Warp Series 01: Genesis
by Jax Malcolm
Summary: Season one complete Inspired by Quantum Leap, the Pokémaniac and scientist we all know as Bill gets involved in a freak accident that causes him to leap or something similiar into Pokémon bodies. And then things get weird...
1. Alpha

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Pokémon. (Save for original characters, such as Zigurat Alpha.) And just to clear a few things up. Yes, many ideas come from Quantum Leap. I had recently learned the basics of the show without actually seeing a full episode (Go me!), but because of this lack of seeing an episode, I may not get the feel or approach the show had. This is a good thing, because this isn't supposed to be a parody or a crossover. It's supposed to be a fic which stands by itself and just has many ideas coming from Quantum Leap. If this makes no sense, I'm writing this at night. So sue me. (Well, that was a bad choice of words...)  
  
Foreword: Because Fanfiction.net is evil (but I still want to post a few good fics, just to keep my account active so I don't lose it and therefore lose what few of my favorite fics still up and which haven't been deleted thanks to their damn posting rules), instead of coming straight out and telling you there's author's notes, I've added in footnotes to give you comments, background information, or more information to clear up confusing points. The system is pretty simple. If you see a number somewhere in the body of the fanfiction (no pun intended) between a pair of asterisks (*), scroll down to the bottom of the fanfiction and find the note with the matching number to see what I have to say.  
  
And now, without further ado...  
  
*gets her fanfiction deleted by Fanfiction.net for violating the "no author's notes" law* Aww, craters...  
  
***  
Episode 01--  
Alpha  
  
Not too long from the time we can call present, a little boy sat in front of a computer, entertained by the image of a little girl he had programmed to be the perfect friend. Human in personality, ever-loyal, and aging at the same rate as a human would so that she could be his companion for as long as he lived and not become a childish burden. He made her live in his computer, ready to keep him company whenever he wanted to play a game or have someone to talk to. (She had been the only one to do so, for his older sister didn't want anything to do with him, his younger sister was too young to play with, and all of the other children saw him as an outcast and refused to let him join in their games.)  
  
Often, the boy's mother would look into his room and find him on the computer, playing with the little girl. She grew worried at this sight. Worried that perhaps there was something seriously wrong with her only son.  
  
"Sweetie, why don't you go outside and play like your older sister?" she asked lightly as she entered the room.  
  
"No one outside will play with me," he replied solemnly.  
  
"Then why don't you join your sister? She has friends, some of which have little brothers your age," she told him.  
  
"They don't want to play with me," he answered.  
  
"Then why don't you try making other friends?" she inquired. "There are other children around the city. Maybe one is just like you."  
  
"But I have a friend like that right here," he said before pointing to the screen at the little girl. "Her name is Zigurat. I call her Ziggy."*1*  
  
The mother looked at the computer screen, then at her little boy. She took him by the hand and took him outside.  
  
"Please make at least one friend," his mother pleaded. "Just one..."  
  
"But Ziggy--" he began.  
  
His mother gently pushed him forward into open air and closed the door, separating her on the inside of the house from her son on the outside. She watched as the boy trembled and walked away. A little boy from next door immedately ran to him, spoke with him, and grabbed him by the wrist, leading him away. *2* At this sight, the mother smiled and went back through her home.  
  
She passed by the open door. The computer screen still glowed. She approached this, looking at the happy little girl dancing in a box on the screen.  
  
"Hi! Will you play with me?" Ziggy asked cheerfully.  
  
The mother smiled and shook her head before shutting off the computer.  
  
~~~  
  
Since then, the little boy had learned to live without the little girl in his computer, eventually causing him to forget about her and allowing her program to be long forgotten in the recesses of a hard drive.  
  
And now, in the present (which is not our own but sometime in the future after the first Pokémon rose from the craters of the Moon Stones), the boy, now a young man, walked through the small town he chose to live by, partially aware to his surrounding happenings as he read a novel on his way home. In the hand which didn't hold the novel up, a plastic bag was held, containing only tofu, tea, instant soup, and various other easy-to-make edible products which he would use as something resembling a meal during the time that his cook took a week's vacation to spend one summer week with her family on a trip to Hawaii. He didn't mind being alone while she was away; it's just that he couldn't cook, even if his life depended on it (which it kinda does at this point, but you get the message).  
  
With his thumb, he turned the page in his book just as he heard someone call out, "Afternoon, Bill!"*3*  
  
Upon hearing his name, he gave them a charming smile and a small greeting before walking on, soon out of civilization, then to his home, which he had chosen to make in a lighthouse. It was isolated, quiet, and peaceful, a small place which he had found when he was a young trainer.  
  
He took a deep breath of cold, salty air emitting from the waves which lapped upon the beach. His eyes gazed out to sea, to the afternoon sun in its kingdom of cerulean sky. Everything was perfect, even his own life. Even if he had no real companions or maidens to pine for, he was happy with how everything was for him, and he wouldn't change a single detail, neither in past nor present nor future.  
  
He approached the door to his home, unlocked it, and pushed it open. He had found the lighthouse standing upon the spot he had found, though it wasn't quite as homey as it was at that moment. It had been run down and abandoned for years, ever since the town with the local port for which it had served burned to the ground, port and all, save for that isolated building. It had taken him a few years to fix it up after he bought it, possibly because it was a side project alongside his career in which he wrote papers about Pokémon or invented devices to help their trainers.  
  
Devices...  
  
He quickly put away his week's worth of groceries and hurried down to the cellar.  
  
There it stood, his newest invention, almost completely finished and appearing as a large, metal tube from which wires poked out like hair.  
  
He placed a hand on the cool metal before picking up a screwdriver and getting to work.  
  
Hours passed without his knowing as wires were pushed or pulled into place, crossing and connecting to various places all over the machine and onto the backs of button panels which were then attached to the device. Eventually, he fixed a door onto it and stepped back. Just about complete.  
  
He found a single wire not connected to anything electrical and hooked it up to his computer. Briefly afterwards, he gazed up at a clock he had put onto the wall to remind him how much time he had spent in the cellar.  
  
Eight forty-five. The sun had already set.  
  
After glancing at his computer in disappointment, he quickly dashed upstairs to turn on the beacon in the lighthouse tower. It had no real purpose (save for calling out to an ancient marine Pokémon which had evaded his PokéDex and which had come only twice before); no vessels ever passed that far north, save for a few fishing ships from the town just a bit south, though long ago the sea which the tower looked out on had once been alive with war ships, fishing vessels, and merchant's ships before the town burned down and left no port for which the the great wooden ducks could dock.  
  
He reached the control room on the upper floor, at the base of the tower and activated the light. The lantern swung around, casting its light out to the darkened waters. He listened closely for the eerie call of the ancient Pokémon he had waited for.  
  
The sea responded instead, crashing her cold, silk gown onto the rocks.  
  
Seeing no sign of that which he had waited for, Bill retreated into the interior of the lighthouse for the night.  
  
~~~  
  
He had brewed a cup of tea for himself, sat down in the silent dining room, and continued reading the novel which he had carried in the afternoon. It was a favorite of his, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. He had read this particular story quite a bit, and yet he never grew tired of it or any others by Wells or Verne.  
  
He took another sip of tea as his eyes drifted away from the novel page and in the direction of the cellar door. He set down his cup on the table, staring that way.  
  
'I'm so close... Should I save the rest for tomorrow?' he asked himself mentally.  
  
He looked up at a clock on the wall. Two before ten. His eyes drifted back down to the page, and he took another sip of tea. Again, it didn't take him long for his mind to wander back down to the cellar again.  
  
"Oh, for Heaven's sake!"  
  
He closed his book and set it on the table before returning his cup to the kitchen. Forgetting about the book for a bit, he went down into the cellar to finish what he'd started. He booted up his computer and immediately afterwards got to work.  
  
~~~  
  
It took him well into the earliest hours of the following day to complete the program. He sat back and sighed before smiling in a sense of victory. He looked at the clock on the wall and frowned.  
  
"3:57 AM," he muttered before relaxing his expression and shrugging. "I'm sure I can fit in a quick test before calling it a night..."  
  
He stood and approached a table nearby. On it, atop a pile of papers, sat a PokéBall. Inside of it was a Ditto, his usual guinea pig. (Refered to by a lighter label, of course.) He picked up this ball, set it inside the machine, and went to his computer. After setting time and coordinates, he activated the machine.  
  
In a fantastic display of light and sound, the ball... did absolutely nothing. A laser came down as it usually would in a Pokémon transport system, but it only lasted for a few seconds before fizzling out.  
  
"Hmm..." Bill cancelled the operation and went to it for a bit of manual troubleshooting. "Perhaps I put in a weak wire..."  
  
He leaned in to take the PokéBall out of the machine just as he stumbled and struck his head against the back metal of the inside of the tube. He slumped down to the floor of the device as the PokéBall rolled out of his hand and across the cellar floor. The blow caused the machine to flicker to life, and the beam came down and bathed his unconscious face.  
  
"Warning!" a mechanical voice announced from his computer. "Error 1217: DNA pattern not recognized! Warning! Error 892: Malfunction! Warning!"  
  
The voice died. On the computer monitor, the cursor moved about the screen, activating several programs until it reached one specific program. A voice responded.  
  
"Ziggy Alpha is online!"  
  
~~~  
  
Bill groaned and opened his eyes. He found himself on the floor of a rather plain-looking room, obviously belonging to a young girl. The carpeting was pink, and the bedsheets were as well. Stuffed animals huddled in a corner beside a white bureau. A table with a simple tea set sat on the side of the room, and above this, there was a Hello Jigglypuff poster.*4*  
  
'Where am I...?'  
  
He sat up to find that most of his joints were stiff, and it wasn't because of an awkward sleeping position (though that wouldn't be unlikely, having slept on a red pillow in a wicker basket for the rest of the night). It was because...  
  
He looked at his hands in shock. They were short, stubby, and light green with a small, white hoof on both. His legs, as he then noticed, were the same way. One former hand drifted up to his neck and found beads encircling it, and as he let his hand drift further up, he found a round head, a lack of a nose, and a large leaf sticking out of the top of his head.  
  
He let out a yelp and covered his mouth before letting his hands drift down to his throat. His voice was gone, having been replaced by a loud, shrill, "Chika!"  
  
{What happened to me!?}*5*  
  
There was some yelling outside the room. A man and a woman were arguing, yelling at each other at the top of their lungs.  
  
"Stop it!" screamed a woman. "Not in front of Abbie!"  
  
"Yeah? Well, there's a LOT of things YOU shouldn't have done in front of Abbie," the man yelled in response.  
  
The door opened. A little girl of about five or six in a pink, short-sleeved sundress walked in and shut the door. Her whitish-blonde pigtails caressed her rosy cheeks, as did the ends of the long, pink ribbons which tied them. Her bright, blue eyes watered as she went to Bill and hugged his neck.  
  
{Um... Miss?} He tried to address her.  
  
"I hate it when Mommy and Daddy fight," she said to him. "Strawberry, can you play with me until I feel better?"  
  
{Miss, I'm not--} Bill began.  
  
"Thanks, Strawberry!" the little girl interrupted, misunderstanding Bill completely. "I know! We can play tea party for awhile!"  
  
The little girl let go of him and went over to a toy box beside the table with the tea set on it. From it, she withdrew two hats, a pink, straw hat with fabric flowers going around the center part, and a sky blue one with a piece of purple material where the fabric flowers were on the pink hat. She put the pink hat on her head and placed the sky blue one on Bill's.  
  
{Oh boy...} He sighed to himself.  
  
~~~  
  
A half an hour after the two began to play "tea party" (It seemed as if Bill really didn't have any other choice.), Abbie's mother knocked on her door and poked her head in.  
  
"Abbie? Sarie's here," she said.  
  
"Oh boy!" Abbie took off her hat as well as Bill's and put them back in the toy box. "Can I go and play?"  
  
Abbie's mother nodded.  
  
Abbie smiled and turned to Bill. "Strawberry, do you wanna come too?"  
  
Bill paused for a moment before remembering that he was Strawberry. He nodded, figuring it was better than staying cooped up in the little girl's room, and followed.  
  
Just before he and Abbie left, Abbie's father was heard in another room.  
  
"You stupid bitch!"  
  
"Stop it!" cried her mother.  
  
Bill looked over his shoulder and felt a strong sense of sympathy toward Abbie.  
  
~~~  
  
Abbie and her red-headed friend, Sarie, were playing in a playground in the middle of a park as they were watched by Sarie's mother. Bill managed to slip away to go for a walk and think things through. As he broke away among a large amount of trees, away from human eyes, he sighed and looked down at his hands, which were then his forelegs.  
  
{What happened to me...?} he asked himself over and over again.  
  
All he could remember was falling into his latest invention the night before. Did he die and end up being reincarnated into a Chikorita? If that were true, then why did Abbie seem as if she knew him for longer than his current life as "Strawberry"? And why could he remember everything from his past life, rather everything from his current one?  
  
He sat down and lifted a hoof to his head, holding his head as it swam with confusion.  
  
"Oh! There you are!"  
  
Bill jumped up and whirled around. Behind him, he saw a girl no older than he was, dressed in a sleeveless, pale blue, knee-length dress with a V-shaped, pink collar (on the vertex of which was a gold star), pale blue gloves that reached just past her elbows and which lacked fingers and a small, rectangular patch of pale blue material on the back of her hand, and pale blue, thigh-high boots. On the front of the boots (near the top edge) and on the tops of the gloves, on the sides away from her body, were pink jewels which matched the one fixed on the wide, gold belt around her waist, the one on the pale-blue choker around her neck, and the ones imbedded in gold on her round earrings. She floated in mid air as her thin legs crossed and her right elbow sat in her lap so that her right arm stood at a ninety degree angle from her leg. The hand (with its long, oval-shaped, pink nails) attached to this arm held her slightly tanned chin as she smiled at him jovially. Her violet-blue, bobbed hair caressed her round cheeks and hid her earrings, and from under her purplish-blue bangs, her emerald eyes shone at Bill.  
  
"Do you know how hard it is to find you? Of course, not for me, but you get the idea," she said.  
  
{Find me?} Bill blinked in confusion.  
  
"No, find the Magikarp behind you," she replied sarcastically. "Yes, you!"  
  
{You... You can understand me?} he inquired.  
  
"Sorry, Bill. I'm not a psychologist," she answered. "If I were, then that would only be a maybe."  
  
{I meant you can understand me verbally!} Bill growled, insulted at the girl's mockery of his psychological health. {I'm a Pokémon, and you're a human, yet you can understand me!}  
  
"Ouch. Wrong in two ways." The girl's eyelids lowered until her green eyes were half closed. "I'm not human, and you're not a Pokémon."  
  
Bill didn't even know where to begin questioning this.  
  
"I guess I should start from the beginning, with my introduction," she said. "I'm Zigurat Alpha, known to more intimate friends, which means basically anyone who knows me depending on how you look at it, as Ziggy. You remember me, don't you?"  
  
{Ziggy Alpha...} Bill tried to recall the name, but nothing came to mind.  
  
Ziggy sighed and lowered until she knelt down in front of him and looked him in the eye. "You programmed me."  
  
{Ziggy... Ziggy!?} Bill gasped. {I remember now! I was seven years old, still a bit of an outcast to everyone else, and therefore a bit lonely. To solve that problem, I created a program called Ziggy Alpha to allow my computer to speak with me and be my companion. After awhile, I stopped needing it, so I stopped using it, and I eventually forgot about it. If I can recall correctly, Ziggy Alpha used amateur-class programming commands and had quite a lot of bugs to be worked out, though it still worked nonetheless...}  
  
"Amateur programming!?" Ziggy stood and put her hands on her hips. "Bugs!? Hey, buddy! That's my makeup you're talking about!!"  
  
{Sorry.} Bill smirked. {So, go on. What's going on?}  
  
"Ah! You see..." Ziggy began, "When you stumbled into the Time Capsule Beta*6* by accident, you could say that your body had absorbed some of its programming. So, there will be times when... Your mind crosses over into a Pokémon's body somewhere else in the present. Oh, but don't worry! It's not permanent! See, many of the Pokémon you cross into have owners, and many of those owners or people surrounding them are calling for help. You'll be their guardian angel. In their favorite Pokémon's body, your job is to find and save those who need you. It'll be a tough job because no one can understand you, which means you'll have to find another way of warning them of things to come, and some cases will simply be a bit puzzling. That's where I come in. See, I knew you were in trouble, so I activated myself and reprogrammed myself to appear as a humanoid hologram to your eyes only. I'll provide information and advice for you when I can, and if you need someone to talk you, just remember I'm the only one who can understand you during your time on a case. Just be careful. You're also the only one who can see and hear me, which may cause a bit of trouble for your host."  
  
{So, when will I go back to my own body?} Bill cautiously asked.  
  
"When you're done with a case, you'll travel back to your own body to wait for a new case," Ziggy replied. "And speaking about cases, in this one, that girl, Abbie, is about to get kidnapped. Your job is to bring her home."  
  
{What if I fail this mission?}  
  
Ziggy shrugged. "I don't know. You might be stuck in Strawberry's body forever."  
  
{You mean you can't take me back!?} Bill trembled with fear.  
  
"Ah..." Ziggy closed her eyes, clapped her hands together, and bowed her head until her nose almost touched her pink, oval nails. "No. See, I don't control your travelling."  
  
{Who does?}  
  
"Hey, I've been told a lot of things about your situation by an anonymous tipster, but this isn't one of them. However, whoever sent me the info might have hinted that in some weird, twisted way, you do. Look, I have to fly. Just find the kid you're supposed to look after. If you need me, just call my name. You know what it is. Ziggy, remember? Ciao!"  
  
{Hey! Wait! I still have some questions!}  
  
But before he could ask her anything, Ziggy disappeared.  
  
{Oh, what have I gotten myself into...?}  
  
~~~  
  
He wandered back to the playground where Abbie was spending her time at. He was deep in thought, worried about what would happen if he failed this "case". Abbie spotted him and ran to him and hugged his neck.  
  
"Strawberry! Don't run off! It makes me think you don't like me!"  
  
Bill sighed and then looked up to see a rather ragged looking man sitting on a bench not far away. His clothes weren't tattered, but they still looked dirty, old, and about two sizes too small. His matted, black hair cascaded down the sides of his face from under a deep maroon ski cap. He hadn't shaved recently, and his yellow, cat-like eyes watched the children running around.  
  
Bill recalled what Ziggy had told him. There was going to be a kidnapping. And that guy was just the obvious suspect for a child abduction, but Bill still reminded himself to not jump to conclusions. After all, maybe he was just a beggar or something.  
  
The thin, ragged man stood stretched, and gazed at Abbie. He strode over to her, took out a lollipop, and knelt down to eye level with her.  
  
"Hey, sweetie, do ya want this lollypop?" he asked her.  
  
The old candy from strangers bit. Sign number one that you were about to get kidnapped. Bill made a mental note to stop doubting his hunches.  
  
Abbie stared at it before replying, "Mommy says that I shouldn't take candy from strangers."  
  
'Smart girl,' Bill thought.  
  
A disappointed expression crossed the man's face. He then threw the lollypop aside and grabbed Abbie. She kicked the man and tried to scream, but he covered her mouth. Bill then tried the only thing that came to mind. He tried a Tackle on the figure's legs. The man kicked him into a bush and continued through the park.  
  
No one seemed to notice him taking her away. They didn't even look up when Bill caught up with them and tried to bite the abductor's leg, causing the man to howl in pain and nearly drop Abbie. In retaliation, the man kicked Bill into a tree.  
  
On impact, the Chikorita fell unconscious.  
  
~~~  
  
"Bill? Bill! This is no time to be sleeping on the job!"  
  
{Wha-what?}   
  
He opened his eyes and groaned. The sun had set, and the park was in total darkness, save for a few lamps set every so often along the pathway.  
  
He groaned and held his head. {Ow... My head...}  
  
"It won't be yours unless you don't finish this case!" Ziggy snapped.  
  
He barely even noticed that she had been kneeling next to him the whole time, trying to shake his shoulder with one holographic hand.*7*  
  
Blearily, he remembered what he was and why he was there. He gasped, forgetting the pain in his head.  
  
{Oh! Abbie!}  
  
Ziggy rolled her eyes. "Glad a certain someone remembered her."  
  
{Ziggy, where is she?} Bill questioned.  
  
"Can't tell you the coordinates, but directions will do," Ziggy said for no reason. "Exit the park going this way." She pointed to her left. "You should be in the middle of a town. Follow the main street, you'll know which one it is, as it's the widest street in town, until you come to a bunch of run-down apartment buildings. It should be the fifth tenament on the left, or in a building with an abandoned store whose front window reads 'Carter's Deli.'"  
  
{Thanks, Ziggy!} Bill stood and began running toward Ziggy's left.  
  
Ziggy stood as well. "Bill! Wait!"  
  
He turned around to face her with an inquisitive expression.  
  
"Don't play Lassie," she advised him. "It'll take too long just to get someone to understand you, and if you go back to Abbie's parents, they'll be too busy quarrelling on whose fault it was that Abbie disappeared. And be careful getting Abbie back. I've analyzed Strawberry's stats and level, and he isn't the strongest of Pokémon. So good luck."  
  
He smiled at her and nodded. {Thanks, Ziggy.}  
  
He and turned around, running toward the area Ziggy had directed him to as fast as he could. Ziggy stayed for awhile, watching him go.  
  
"Be careful, Bill," Ziggy muttered softly before disappearing.  
  
~~~  
  
Bill tried not to be seen as he darted down the street. He could see menacing characters just outside of the light of the streetlamp, some having guns in their hands, others huddling with one or two others, exchanging money and various goods, sometimes even small, plastic bags.  
  
This wasn't so much a town as it was a city, and whichever city he was in was obviously there for a long period of time and had probably experienced some sort of industrialization in the last Industrial Revolution, judging by the dark spots on the buildings, presumably caused by years of factory smog. Overall, this entire part of the city was run-down (the counterpart to the beautiful, modern part in which Abbie lived), and it was amazing that anyone lived in this half of it.  
  
Not too far away, on the left, was a building with the words "Carter's Deli" painted on it in chipped, gold and red letters. The red brick walls that formed its outside were dirty and darkened through age and pollution, just like the other buildings were. Its interior appeared empty, much like so many other buildings around. Lastly, the glass in its door was completely broken off, save for a few pieces still attached to the metal frame.  
  
Bill looked on the inside to see first if there were any shards of glass littering the dirty floor. In the areas where the light of the streetlamp threw its light onto the floor, no shards could be seen. Cautiously, he jumped over the bottom piece of metal and onto the dingy, brown and white tiled floor on the otherside.  
  
There was nothing in the building. Absolutely nothing. Not even a counter behind which a shopkeeper stood to sell sandwiches and cold meats to hurried customers. Nothing.  
  
Nothing except a closed door on the other side of the room. He approached this, stared at its knob for a bit, and used his Vine Whips to try to open it. The slender vines wrapped around the knob and twisted it, and the door opened with a click.  
  
He pushed it open, only to find a set of stairs beyond it. Without a second thought, he climbed these, arriving on a second floor with another door.  
  
Remaining silent, he flattened down on the floor and tried to listen for signs of life on the other side through the narrow crack between the bottom of the door and the wood floor. Nothing.  
  
He straightened up and mounted a second staircase to the next floor to do the same thing with the only door on that floor. Finding nothing again, he went to the fourth and final floor.  
  
Flat on the floor and listening carefully, he heard footsteps and a girl crying. Then voices.  
  
"Yep! Once I get that ransom money, I'll have enough to live in style!" a male's voice exclaimed.  
  
Bill reached up with Vine Whip again to open the door. Unfortunately, it was locked.  
  
The man inside the room must have heard him try to open the door, because suddenly, a shot rang out, and a bullet came through the door a couple of feet above Bill's head. He remained still, listening to the inside.  
  
"Damn. Must be hearin' things," the man muttered.  
  
Abbie cried.  
  
"Stop yer blubberin'!" ordered the man.  
  
This only made Abbie cry harder.  
  
With a growl and a sudden feeling of determination, Bill backed away from the door and sliced it to pieces with Razor Leaf. He ran in as the man fired several shots into the darkness.  
  
"Chika!" he announced loudly to let Abbie know he was there.  
  
"Strawberry!" Abbie cried happily.  
  
Trying to remain in the darkness to keep the captor from seeing him, Bill darted around to behind Abbie and began chewing at the ropes that bound her.  
  
A shot was heard, and a bullet grazed the leaf on top of Bill's head and shattered the window behind him, allowing the moonlight to completely poured in without being filtered by dust and dirt on the glass.  
  
"Get off, yeh runt!" the man snapped as he aimed a bit lower.  
  
Bill jumped onto Abbie's lap and then off, jumping at the abductor. The man tried to shoot at him again, but missed as Bill landed in front of the assailant and darted out of the way. The main kept trying to shoot, but the Chikorita remained one step ahead (literally). Finally, the gun simply clicked. No bullets remained, and the man had no others.  
  
The man threw the gun to the side of the room and made a dive for Bill, but he jumped out of the way again and sprayed the man with Stun Spore.  
  
As the man remained motionless on the floor to watch, Bill went back to Abbie and chewed threw the ropes, freeing her at last. The girl hugged him tightly and ran out the room, holding him as she fled out of the building and into the open air where she managed to find an Officer Jenny on the beat again.  
  
~~~  
  
Not long after Officer Jenny had been shown to Abbie's captor, and not long after other officers were called in to arrest the paralyzed man, Officer Jenny took Abbie and her Chikorita home, where, for once, Abbie's parents were in each other's arms. Abbie's mother was crying as her father stroked her hair, muttering comforting words to the middle-aged wife.  
  
Officer Jenny took Abbie by the hand and led her to her parents, who burst out in cries of joy as they embraced their lost daughter.  
  
"I only want what's best for Abbie," the mother had said to the father. "I was hoping you'd understand."  
  
Her husband looked deep into the mother's eyes and replied, "All of our fighting is only hurting her, isn't it? Maybe I'll try to help out around the house more like you always nag me to do."  
  
The mother smiled and put her chin on her daughter's blonde head. "I'm sorry, John."  
  
"Same here, Maura," John replied before taking Abbie out of the embrace and picking her up.*8*  
  
"I'm just glad she's safe and sound," Maura sighed.  
  
"Same here," John added.  
  
"Well, both of you are lucky your daughter has such a loyal Pokémon," Jenny said as she nodded to Bill. "According to Abbie, her little friend here followed her, attacked the kidnapper, and helped her get away. I think someone deserves a special thank you..."  
  
Maura knelt down and patted Bill on the leaf. "Thank you, Strawberry."  
  
"Thanks, Strawberry!" Abbie chimed in.  
  
Bill nodded before a silver light flashed in his eyes. Then, all went black.  
  
~~~  
  
Bill groaned and opened his eyes. He found himself laying on his side on the floor of the cellar, very close to the Time Capsule Beta and Ditto's PokéBall. He turned on his back and stared at the ceiling for awhile before sitting up and looking at his hands to find that he was once again human.  
  
He brought his right hand to his head and rubbed the area which had hit the back of the Time Capsule Beta. He glanced up to find the clock on the wall. Seven twenty-six in the morning.  
  
"Was that all a dream?" he asked himself.  
  
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?"  
  
He jumped and turned sharply toward his computer. On the screen was Ziggy, sitting at an angle toward the left of the screen and with her legs crossed, her back slightly reclined, and her hands behind her head. Her green eyes were closed, and she wore a little smirk on her glossed lips.  
  
"Ziggy...!" Bill exclaimed with a soft, surprised voice.  
  
"Yup!" Ziggy opened one eye and smiled. "Get used to things like what you did yesterday. You're going to be doing that often. And be prepared for that too. Until you learn to control your new power, body hopping's going to be done randomly."  
  
Bill groaned and fell backwards onto his back on the floor. He placed one hand on his forehead.  
  
"Just what I need to hear," he muttered.  
  
***  
  
End episode one*9*  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: This would be (spoiler!) Zigurat Alpha, aka Ziggy. Her real name comes from the default computer-player in a game of chess I had on an old computer before I got my laptop. (And by the way, Zigurat as in Zigurat Alpha is pronounced "ZIG-oo-raht," though I'm not sure if the default player's name was pronounced the same way.) As for her nickname, I named her after my laptop (who, ironically, I concider to be male), who in turn was named after Ziggy from Quantum Leap after I had come across her name in the Pokémon/Quantum Leap crossover by Jaxxon. So, in other words, Ziggy's about the only direct reference to QL I'll probably ever make. Probably. And don't stare at me like that. So what if I nicknamed my laptop!?  
  
*2*: Remember this little boy. (Don't you just LOVE foreshadowing? XD)  
  
*3*: This is the first time in a long time that I use English names. I have a habit of not finishing a fanfiction when I use the original name (either that or the fanfic turns out incredibly crappy), so I decided to use English names out of good luck. That and I didn't really have a Japanese name for Ziggy. ("Zigi" and "Zigii" are already taken. They're both alternate spellings for Jigii, otherwise known as Rudy, the Orange Island Gym Leader who bears the... Sea Ruby badge, wasn't it? It's been WAY too long since I've seen that episode... And it was one of the few GOOD Orange episodes too! ;_;)  
  
*4*: I thought Jigglypuff was the closest thing to Hello Kitty. I didn't want to use Meowth because… Well, YOU try imagining a Sanario-style Meowth!!  
  
*5*: Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that anytime you see words between { and }, whoever is speaking is saying something in the Pokémon language. (I'm aware that made no sense. Give me java, and there'll be a chance that I can clarify… ^_^;)  
  
*6*: Ack! I never did mention that the device Bill was working on earlier was the upgrade to the Time Capsule, now did I? Sorry about that. ^_^; Anywho, yes. This is a concept I usually use whenever I write a fic that requires Bill to be working on an invention or machine of some sort. Basically, the Time Capsule Beta is an upgrade of the Time Capsule, allowing faster transport over a wider range of time/space. In this fanfiction, he was rewiring an older Time Capsule Alpha (the version we know of) so that it could handle the new programming.  
  
*7*: I know this isn't possible, but that's the point. ^_^;  
  
*8*: Originally, Bill was supposed to help keep the family together, but then I changed it to the mission you read about in this episode. The fighting, then, was never taken out and really had no purpose in the story, save to add emphasis to Abbie's return. ^_^;  
  
*9*: Sorry this whole episode seemed so rushed. Warp Series is supposed to be fast-paced, just not out of hand. ^_^; Anywho, tune in some other week for episode two! 


	2. Fear Not, Young Shifter!

Foreword: First off, I apologize for the comment about Fanfiction.net in the last episode. I've changed my mind after that. It doesn't seem THAT bad anymore, actually... ^_^ When I went on hiatus, however, I had a major list of complaints, ranging from the frequent and long periods of downtime to my stories disappearing to all those ads - which, incidentally, are still plaguing my Ziggy - to an overflow of authors who REALLY lacked something in their writing. *sighs* Where are all the good authors (ex. Loren Leah) when you want them...? ;_; And yes, I didn't really like the rules because they, in my opinion, were a bit restrictive, but I also have to apologize about misinterpreting the "no author's notes" rule. I'm still using footnotes, though.  
  
And finally, a correction to a footnote in the last chapter: I finally found out what badge Rudy bears, if you really care. It's the Spiked Shell, not the Sea Ruby. (Thanks, Ryoshuu.com!)  
  
Anywho, and now, the moment you've all been jonesing for... *pauses to pull out a bottle of Jones Soda because she's "got a jones for a Jones"* ...Episode two!  
  
***  
Episode 02--  
Fear Not, Young Shifter!  
  
The hospital room was bleak, dreary, and gray, though it had once been an innocent white. The curtains were drawn. A middle-aged man lay in a bed, coughing every so often. His skin was pale and yellow, and his eyes were partially glazed. One of his weak hands were held between the two hands of a woman sitting in a chair next to the bed. Tears streamed down her face from her troubled, amber eyes.  
  
"Sarah..." The man coughed before he could finish his thought.  
  
"Michael, rest," the woman said, clutching his hand in hers. "Everything is taken care of."  
  
"I hope..." He coughed. "...that you and June and Oliver will be alright..." He coughed again. "I'm sorry..."  
  
"Don't apologize," Sarah told him lightly. "You couldn't have stopped yourself from getting sick. And please don't worry. I'll keep my job, and June will take over the business. I told you before, everything is taken care of."  
  
"Not everything..." Michael coughed.  
  
Sarah waited for what he had to say.  
  
"Sarah, tell the kids what I have to say..." He coughed once more. "...and remember it yourself too..."  
  
"What?" Sarah pulled a hand away from his and wiped her eyes.  
  
Michael paused for a long time. "I love you..."  
  
He went into a final fit of coughs before finally relaxing. He rested his head on the hospital pillow and closed his eyes. His hand felt limp in Sarah's, and his wrist held no sign of a pulse.  
  
Sarah burst into tears.  
  
~~~  
  
A blank word processing document had been started. The writer, however, took a few moments to think before starting. The bleak whiteness stared at him expectantly. He wondered for a moment if he should wait for further information before chronicling data.   
  
His fingers drifted to the right keys on the keyboard as he reminded himself of the purpose of this. Perhaps if he wrote everything he already knew down, something would click, and things can be figured out.  
  
He began to type:  
  
"About a week ago, I was involved in a freak accident involving my latest invention, the Time Capsule Beta, otherwise known as the TCB. From what my partner and computer, Zigurat Alpha, had figured out, the TCB had activated while I was unconscious, altering my DNA to allow for a certain otherwise unexplainable phenomenon.  
  
"This occurance, which I have called "shifting," transfers my mind and soul out of my body at brief, random periods of time. Both of my essences are then transferred to a host, which so far have only been Pokémon. The shift is obviously only temporary, but in that period of time, I'm expected to complete a certain task."  
  
He stopped. That was all he knew, save for extra names, including how he had named those who shifted shifters (unless in a host, which they are then called hostees) and that Ziggy had dubbed their relationship between each other "Warp".*1* Of course, this didn't help him figure out exactly what was going on. It was just useless data on Warp itself.   
  
He sighed. Two shifts,*2* and still nothing figured out.  
  
He stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of his computer in the cellar with one hand behind his back and the other touching his chin.  
  
Suddenly, a voice started humming the Jeopardy! theme song behind him. Startled, he turned to see Ziggy with a smug expression on her face, smirking at Bill as her arms were crossed and as she stood, half seen, in her blue-gray program window which had popped up on the computer screen. Just as she finished the song, Bill rolled his eyes.  
  
"Hello, Ziggy," he said in an unenthusiastic tone.  
  
"Hey, Bill! What's up?" Ziggy's eyes drifted onto the document. "Ooh... Trying to figure out the secrets of shifting, huh? Good luck! Even I can't figure it all out, and I've got the strongest connection to Zero!"  
  
Bill stared blankly at her. "Zero?"  
  
"Oh yeah! Forgot to tell you! Our anonymous tipster finally gave me a name," Ziggy told him with a shrug. "I don't know how she could be anonymous after that, but she calls herself Zero. She says she likes you, and she'll give you as much help as she can."  
  
"Exactly how are you getting messages from her?" Bill questioned, narrowing his eyes at her. "You were programmed to stay out of my e-mail in case something private came up."  
  
Ziggy shrugged again. "I'm not getting messages from her through e-mail; she doesn't give me one. She just sort of feeds information to me."  
  
"Oh great. A hacker." Bill sighed. "Well, it could be worse. She could have corrupted my mainframe." He looked at Ziggy and went closer to the screen. "By the way, do you know anything else about shifting?"  
  
She shook her head. "Nope. Sorry."  
  
"Can you ask Zero?"  
  
"I can only ask her when she's connected to me. Right now, she's not."  
  
Bill sighed again, this time in frustration. "I wish I knew a little bit more about this."  
  
"That makes two of us," Ziggy commented before she closed her eyes and sat back. "But at least I'm not too worked up about it. Why ARE you so interested in trying to explain the unexplainable?"  
  
"It's what I do," Bill replied dryly. "Did you come out just to interrupt my train of thought?"  
  
"Ooh... Touchy..." Ziggy rolled her eyes. "Geez, when we were younger, you appreciated my visits!"  
  
"People, unlike obsolete programs, change," he replied, narrowing his eyes at her.  
  
"Ouch. You know you really know how to hurt a person," she observed.  
  
"Hmm..." Bill, still narrowing his eyes at Ziggy, began pacing again.  
  
"Oh, come on! We haven't bonded for ten years!*3*" Ziggy reminded him with a pleading tone.  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Not now, Ziggy."  
  
"Oh, come on!" she pleaded. "I'll even go first! Okay, let's see... I haven't really changed too much. I'm still your friendly little hologram you know and love. My interests are reading Shakespeare files you have stored in your hard drive, playing games, solving puzzles, having intelligent conversations, and sleeping. I love the colors blue and pink, bunnies, cute guys, and a good game of chess, but I hate negative people and long periods of silence. My phobias include viruses and worms, the antivirus program, the delete key, and Togepi."  
  
"Togepi?"  
  
"Yeah! You can NEVER trust a face that cute!"  
  
Bill let out a short laugh before continuing to pace.  
  
"Well?" Ziggy gave Bill an expectant look.  
  
Bill turned his head to look at her. "Well what?"  
  
"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" Ziggy inquired.  
  
"Anything," Bill replied with an amused smirk as he turned away.  
  
"Oh, very cute," Ziggy snapped sarcastically. "Come on! Be serious!"  
  
He didn't reply.  
  
"At least tell me what you're afraid of," Ziggy begged. "I've got this big facination with human fear... Did you ever get over that stupid fear of Fearows?"  
  
Bill turned his head toward her again and glared. Ziggy looked at him for a few moments before bursting out in laughter.  
  
"You're still afraid of Fearows!" she gasped between laughs.  
  
"That's not funny!" Bill told her sharply. "I was attacked by Fearows once, and since then, I can't even walk up to one! Do you know how much that got in the way of my research!?"  
  
Ziggy tried to kill her fit of giggles, but she could only manage to choke out an apology and more giggles. Bill growled in frustration just before Ziggy stopped abruptly.  
  
"Well, it's about time you realized there's no humor in my fear," Bill said with an annoyed tone.  
  
"Oh, it's not that," Ziggy responded. "It's funny as sin. It's just that Zero just phoned in to tell you that--"  
  
Suddenly, Bill's body went ridged. His eyes closed, and a silver light engulfed him before gathering up and hovering above his head. It vanished just before he limply fell to the ground.  
  
"--You were going to shift," Ziggy finished, staring at his body while figuring that her last sentence meant nothing.  
  
The girl sighed and disappeared from the screen.  
  
~~~  
  
{I still need to get used to this,} Bill muttered to himself as he opened his eyes.  
  
He found himself in a barn of some sort, in the complete dark, save for a few rays of sunshine filtering in through cracks between the wooden boards which made the walls. He could feel that he was sitting in the loft on a bed of straw. Though it was dark in the room, he looked down. Straight down. A shiver went down his spine as he briefly went over the consequences of attempting to get down by jumping down.  
  
His arm passed through a beam of light as he tried to find his way to a route to the ground.*4* Only, it wasn't an arm. He extended it out and examined it through the slender beam. Brown feathers...  
  
He quickly realized he had shifted into a bird, though which one was hard to tell. Trying to figure out what Pokémon he had shifted into wasn't his top priority at that moment. Getting down, however, was.  
  
In previous shifts, he learned that, though he was separate from the mind and consciousness of the Pokémon he would shift into, he could still make use of any skill, attack, and ability that Pokémon had as soon as he entered its body. And because his current host had a flying ability...  
  
He extended his new wings as far as they would go and followed his host's Pokémon instincts. His feet pushed off the edge of the loft. His wings flapped gently to keep him from dropping straight down. He slowly circled to the ground. And in a way, this made him feel peaceful and free until he reached the ground.  
  
His feet touched the ground, and he folded his wings. Now the time was right for him to find out what he had shifted into. And to do that, he needed more light.  
  
He walked to the barn doors and struggled to open it, trying to use his wings and beak to pull one of the double doors back through a crack between the doors. Finally, with a bit of struggling, he succeeded, and the door swung open.  
  
Sunlight assaulted his eyes. He squinted and covered his head with a wing until the light no longer burned. He blinked a few times and looked around.  
  
Okay, he was in the middle of a field, near a quaint, little house. That was it. Countryside in all its quaintness.  
  
Finally, he returned to trying to figure out what he was. Brown wings, pink feet, brown all over (from what he saw)...  
  
Long neck, long beak, and a tan back?  
  
There was a pause before it dawned on him. He screeched in horror, but, to his ears, it came out as one thing:  
  
"Fearow!"  
  
{Oh...! Three hundred and fifty one*5* species of Pokémon, and I had to shift into THIS ONE!} He cried out in dismay as he covered his head with his wings. {Oh god! This CAN'T be happening!}*6*  
  
He shivered uncontrollably as Ziggy appeared.  
  
"Well, doesn't this irony just kill you?" she said with a smirk she tried to hide behind one pink-nailed hand.  
  
{Oh! Ziggy! Please! Help me!} Bill pleaded.  
  
"Yeah. Sure." Ziggy's blue-shadowed eyelids fell until they covered half her eyes. "How?"  
  
{I don't know! There has to be a way to get out of here!}  
  
"Sorry, Bill. You're stuck until you finish your mission."  
  
Bill whimpered softly, listening for what he had to do.  
  
"Ready?" Ziggy inquired. "Okay, on this case, the daughter of your host's owner -- her name is June -- has just inherited her family business. Unfortunately, with her father dead, her mother can't quite bring home enough bacon to support June, June's brother, Oliver, and herself. That's where you come in. See, Fearow doesn't seem to want to obey June, or anyone else for that matter, so you have to take over for awhile to help June make a little profit from her Fearow delivery service so she can support her family. Got all of that?"  
  
Bill didn't answer.  
  
"I'm gonna assume that's a 'yes,'" Ziggy muttered. "Remember, call me if you need me! Ciao!"  
  
With that, Ziggy transported away, leaving Bill alone, trapped and terrified inside Fearow.  
  
'What am I going to do...?' Bill asked himself as he closed his eyes and tried desperately to control his fear.  
  
~~~  
  
He opened his eyes and found himself on a bed, under a sheet.  
  
'I must have dozed off,' he thought as he looked around the small, country room.  
  
"Feeling any better, Sunny?"  
  
Bill looked up to see a girl about his age with bright, hazel eyes and soft, straight, violet hair cascading down her back. She put a bowl of birdseed on a nightstand next to the bed and a bowl of water next to that.   
  
"I found you outside," she said, still looking at the bird seed. "I know you loved Dad a lot, and I'm not surprised that you're sick with grief."  
  
She took a handful of birdseed and held it up to Bill's beak. He stared at her blankly for awhile until she sighed and dropped the birdseed back into the bowl.  
  
"You still won't trust me," she muttered as she stroked his head. "It's a shame, though. We really need you."  
  
She turned and began walking away. When she was almost out the door, she turned around again.  
  
"Get well soon, Sunny," she told him softly before she walked out the door.  
  
He remembered the name Ziggy had given him. 'June...'  
  
He went over what June had said. They needed him. Well, Sunny, anyways. He had to get over his fear of Fearows to help June. And once he helped her with her business, her family would be alright.  
  
The problem, however, was that a person just can't simply get over a fear with no problem, and Bill was well aware of this.  
  
~~~  
  
That night, Bill remained in the guest bed, wide awake and unable to sleep in his host's body. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that little scene from awhile ago.  
  
He was younger, barely old enough to train Pokémon. A friend of his, the same one he met the day he stopped playing with Ziggy*7*, had Bill watch him practice soccer, kicking a ball against a tree. Unfortunately, in its were Fearow nests, and as soon as his friend's soccer ball struck the tree, a flock of Fearows burst into the air like spores and dove down to try to strike the boys.   
  
Both began to run, but Bill's friend was faster and soon left him behind. On the other hand, Bill himself wasn't the fastest person in the world, the Fearows remained dangerously close behind him.   
  
He remembered tripping and falling forward, burying his face in his arms as the Fearows literally tore at him with their beaks. By the time his father had found him and managed to scare the Fearows away, his clothes already had large, crimson stains on them, his arm had been broken by a Fearow, and he was near unconsciousness.*8*  
  
Presently, he shivered and opened his eyes.   
  
'This is ridiculous,' Bill thought. 'First off, I'm a Pokémon researcher. I shouldn't be afraid of that which I study. Secondly...'  
  
He got out of bed and stood in the middle of the room.  
  
'I'm a shifter.'   
  
He looked at his wings.   
  
'As a shifter, I need to put my fears behind me and aide those in need.'  
  
He took a deep breath and stood tall.  
  
'Tomorrow. I'll force myself into forgetting my fears. June and her family need Sunny.'  
  
There was a mirror on top of a bureau to his left. He looked in it and made out the silhouette of his Fearow host. He shivered.  
  
'I just hope I can do this...'  
  
~~~  
  
Back in the lighthouse, a vent in the cellar was kicked open. Two figures dropped out of the ventilation system, one male, the other female. The male turned on a flashlight as the female rushed over to a desk and rooted through papers.  
  
"Hurry up!" the male whispered. "What if he wakes up?"  
  
"Doubt it," the female replied with her Southern belle accent. "This is a big place. He can't even hear us from here. And I don't see him around, do you?"*9*  
  
The female kept looking around the desk until her hand bumped a computer mouse. The screensaver vanished, revealing the document Bill had been working on earlier.  
  
"Hey, Clyde! I bet Boss Lokov would just die to see this, wouldn't you say so?" The female smirked before she grabbed a floppy disc nearby, popped it into the computer, deleted its contents, and saved the document to it.  
  
"Bonnie! Remember why we came here!" Clyde snapped.  
  
"Sugar, I didn't forget," Bonnie responded before searching the computer for the file that contained the coding for the TCB.  
  
When she found what she was looking for, she saved this document to the disc as well and pulled the disk out of the computer before exiting out of the program. She took one final glance at a little program with a SD*10* of Ziggy, sleeping while sitting on her knees and blowing a little bubble out of her nose. The words "Zigurat Alpha in Sleep Mode" stood above her head in red letters.  
  
"Aww... isn't that adorable?" Bonnie cooed.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Clyde muttered. "Come on before we start leaving evidence!"  
  
"Oh, fine, fine!" Bonnie retorted. "Be a gentleman and give me a boost then, sugar!"  
  
Clyde stood under the vent and gave Bonnie a boost up until she could reach it and crawl inside. He jumped, grabbed the edge of the vent, and crawled in behind Bonnie before carefully closing the vent.  
  
~~~  
  
June had donned a red pilot's hat, complete with a pair of goggles strapped to it. She pulled on a fighter pilot's jacket over her red slipover, and her khaki pants were tucked into a pair of knee-high, brown hiking boots. In one red-gloved hand, she held up a tangle of leather straps as she smiled and mumbled soothing words to Bill.  
  
'What exactly are you going to do with that?' Bill mentally questioned.  
  
June whispered soft words to him as she tried to pry open his beak and slip one of the leather straps into it so she could tie the rest of the harness around his head. He realized what she was doing and, though it made him feel as if his dignity had slipped away again (much like it had when Abbie put the blue straw hat on him), he opened his beak and allowed June to slip the bit in.  
  
After she had finally gotten him ready, June put a beige messenger bag on her shoulder and mounted, sitting on his shoulders.*11* She grabbed the reins and snapped them.  
  
"Sunny! Tobu!"*12*  
  
June pulled back on the reins, causing Bill to look up. Taking the hint, he unfolded his wings, pushed off the ground, and flew upwards. He had a bit of difficulty, never having flying at a higher altitude than in the barn, and definitely not having carried someone of June's weight on his shoulders. He experienced a bit of trouble, trying to remained balanced so as not to drop June.  
  
Finally, June placed a hand on his back and pushed down once as she leaned forward and said, "Suihei!"*13*  
  
It took him a quick moment to figure out what she meant, immediately afterwards he straightened out and flew straight.  
  
June sat on his back like a princess on her favorite horse. Every so often, she'd have Bill fly down so she could make a stop here and there, at which point, like a pizza delivery girl, she'd get her payment and tip. Then she would get on his back again and have him take off. This went on for about eight hours until June's messanger bag was empty before she slowly guided Bill back to her home.  
  
She smiled and reached out to stroke the back of his neck and head. He shivered for a moment but then allowed her to keep doing so. Finally, she spoke.  
  
"This is the first time you've obeyed me like this," June muttered. "Thanks, Sunny. Keep this up, and we'll have as much money as we did when Dad was alive."  
  
He said nothing.  
  
"I miss him too..."  
  
Bill could feel an emotion inside of him that wasn't his, but Sunny's instead. His heart felt empty because of Sunny. He could then feel something warm and liquidy drop onto his neck, and he knew this was from June. He couldn't see her face, but he knew she was crying. That emptiness in Sunny's heart grew.  
  
'Don't you see, Sunny?' Bill asked his host mentally. 'If you would accept June, she can help you through this. True, losing a loved one hurts, but remember that you're not alone. Your owner had a family who now mourn for him. Don't cut yourself off from them. Allow them to help you.'  
  
Bill wondered if Sunny received the message, but he didn't receive a response. Instead, June guided him downward to the ground in front of the barn.  
  
June immediately hopped off and headed toward the house. She turned around briefly and smiled at him.  
  
"Come on! I'll get you some birdseed and water," June offered.  
  
He nodded and followed.  
  
~~~  
  
Bill remained on the backporch as June went in to get snacks. He looked up at the sky as a question floated into his mind.  
  
{Ziggy?}  
  
Almost immediately, Ziggy appeared beside him. She crossed her arms and smirked.  
  
"Still having troubles?"  
  
{I've tried to put that in the back of my mind. So far, it seems to be working. I haven't broken down with the thought that I'm in a Fearow.}  
  
"Darn. I would've loved to see that."  
  
{You sadist!}  
  
Ziggy shrugged as she lowered her eyelids. "So, what did you call me for?"  
  
{Oh, right!} Bill paused for a moment. {How much longer must I stay here?}  
  
"Hey, you control your shifting, remember?" Ziggy opened her eyes and cocked her head. "When you're ready, you shift out by yourself."  
  
{I am ready,} Bill replied, {but I still haven't shifted. I've completed the mission and helped June with earning money, and yet I'm still stuck in Sunny...}  
  
"Maybe there's something else you have to do," Ziggy suggested. "What about getting Sunny to obey June?"  
  
{I've talked to him about that,} Bill responded. {Or at least I think I did...}  
  
"Maybe that could be your problem." Ziggy shrugged.  
  
Just then, a shriek pierced the air from inside.  
  
"That would be your cue." Ziggy waved briefly. "Ciao!"  
  
With that, she disappeared. Bill turned and managed to get through the backdoor to see a pair of Team Rocket members just inside. A male Rocket held June while a female Rocket advanced on Bill with a net. The female threw the net at him, but he quickly dodged it.  
  
"Here, little birdie!" the woman cooed as she stood back up with the net. "I won't hurt you! I just want you to come with us so you can help us make a few bucks...!"  
  
Again, she dove, and again, Bill dodged her. June bit the hand of the male Rocket (which he had placed over her mouth). As he waved his hand and cursed, she managed to yell something to Bill.  
  
"Sunny! Get out of here! Fly away and get help!"  
  
Again, the woman dove at him. He managed to get back outside before she could catch him. As soon as he hit open air, he ran forward, jumped, and flew into the air before turning around and hovering there. The male Rocket dragged June out behind the female, who was chasing after Bill.  
  
"Dammit!" the woman cursed as she stamped her foot like a child.  
  
"Hey, Rose! Try using a Pokémon!" the male suggested.  
  
"I knew that!" Rose snapped as she held up a PokéBall. "Go! Golbat!"  
  
She tossed out the PokéBall, which then opened up and released a large, blue bat.  
  
"Golbat! Supersonic!"  
  
Golbat opened its large mouth wider, sending out a wave of sound. It rang in Bill's ears so loudly he thought his head would split. When it was over, he couldn't see clearly.  
  
June stomped on the Rocket's foot, sending him in a fury of pain and curses as he hopped on one foot. She then ran forward and called out to Sunny.  
  
Suddenly, though he thought he had imagined it at first, a voice floated into Bill's head.  
  
'Is it true?'  
  
He hazily found himself on the ground.   
  
Weakly, he mentally replied. 'What is?'  
  
'What you said,' the other voice replied. 'Is it alright if I helped June? Will I be alright without Michael?'  
  
'I'm sure I don't know who Michael is,' Bill answered, 'but I'd say the former would be alright.'  
  
The rest seemed blurry to Bill. He knew he heard June giving him commands, and he was sure that, looking through Sunny's eyes, he was carrying these orders out, but it felt like he was only sitting in the back of Sunny's mind, letting someone else handle the battle. That was possible, right?  
  
The next thing he knew, Team Rocket had been blown away. Literally. But he still didn't know how he did that...*14*  
  
~~~  
  
By the time the confusion from the Supersonic wore off, Bill found himself back in the guest room, once again in the bed with a sheet over him. June had put a cold, wet cloth on his forehead to soothe the effects quickly. Then, she, her mother, and the little, purple-haired, hazel eyed boy that was her brother, watched him in anticipation. He groaned, twitched, and blinked a few times before sitting up.  
  
"Sunny, are you alright?" June inquired.  
  
Bill looked at her with a warm glance and nodded. She smiled happily (as did the rest of her family) before she embraced him.  
  
"Oh thank Heaven!" she exclaimed as she cried with happiness.  
  
Her mother smiled warmly, and Oliver had already gotten on the bed to pet Bill.  
  
'Well,' Bill thought, 'I've done as much as I could here. June has earned a bit of money to help out, and Sunny is finally obeying June. Or at least I think so...'  
  
As if in response, a warm feeling filled his chest, just before the silver light appeared again and blackness clouded his eyesight.  
  
~~~  
  
Once again, he found himself on the floor, in his human body. He stood up, using the chair and the desk to help him. He held his head and wobbled slightly, still not quite recovered after the Supersonic attack.  
  
"Aww... rough shift?"  
  
Bill looked at the computer monitor just in time to see Ziggy reappear with yet another taunting expression.  
  
"Rough shift?" Bill scoffed. "Of course it was a rough shift!"  
  
"Well, put it this way, you're not afraid of Fearows anymore," Ziggy commented.  
  
Bill smiled sheepishly and nodded. "You know, you're absolutely right."  
  
"Of course I'm right!" Ziggy replied. "Ziggy's never wrong!"  
  
Bill went on as if he hadn't even heard Ziggy's comment. "Most therapists have said that the best way to get over a fear is to face it, and what better way of facing a fear of Fearows than to actually live as one for a day?"  
  
"That's absolutely true!" Ziggy agreed. "Aren't you glad you shifted?"  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"You know, you aren't the only sadist here," Bill told her slowly as he grinned deviously.  
  
Ziggy cocked her head. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Bill leaned forward to reach the keyboard and typed a few commands into Ziggy's program. He straightened up and watched as a Togepi appeared next to Ziggy in her little program box. She took one look at it, shrieked, and began running around. Togepi followed her, waving its little arms in an attempt to catch her.  
  
"Bill! This isn't funny!" Ziggy screamed. "Turn it off! Turn it off! TURN IT OFF!!"  
  
Bill sighed in happiness. "Revenge is sweet..."  
  
Ziggy kept running. "BILL!!"  
  
"Hold on," he responded. "Give me ten minutes, more or less."  
  
Ziggy cried out in agony as she sank to her knees, allowing Togepi to jump on her. Bill smirked in satisfaction.  
  
~~~  
  
In a darkened office, Bonnie and Clyde approached an office behind which was a man sitting facing away from them in an office chair.  
  
"Boss Lokov, we've brought you something from McKenzie's lab," Bonnie told him, placing the disc on his desk. "This disc contains the programming for the Time Capsule as well as information on something called 'shifting.'"  
  
"Shifting?" Lokov inquired.  
  
"It talks about transferring people's minds and souls into Pokémon's bodies," Bonnie said.  
  
Lokov turned his chair around to face the two. He picked up the disc in front of him and examined it.  
  
"Quite interesting," he muttered before gazing up at his lackeys. "You've done well. Now leave my office and forget everything you've seen on this disc."  
  
"Yes, sir," the two replied before saluting and leaving the office.  
  
As the door closed behind them, Lokov leaned back in his chair and examined the disc again. He smirked and laughed quietly and devilishly.  
  
"You've always been a wealth of useful information, haven't you, McKenzie?"*15* he said, partially to himself.  
  
***  
  
End episode two  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: I can't remember exactly what the label for that was in Quantum Leap... O_o; Anywho, Warp is sort of like Sam, Al, and (QL's) Ziggy... only here we have two characters... not counting that mysterious anonymous tipster... ^_^;  
  
*2*: Because I have problems with writing too many chapters/episodes (Why? Um... I lose interest and never finish the fanfiction? ^_^;), instead of writing an episode every time Bill shifts, I'll only write one whenever something major happens, including here, where I give names to actions/objects, give that "anonymous tipster" from the first episode a name, and have the opportunity to make a few Fearow cracks. (If you've ever read Pokémon Adventurers, you'd know why I've made any at all. ^_^;) Anywho, here I mention another shift, aside from the one with Strawberry and Abbie. You're supposed to figure that he did and that in it, nothing important happened, okay? (Yeah, I know. This is as Swiss cheesy as Cardcaptors. Gomen nasai! ^_^;)  
  
*3*: There's been a whole debate over how old any of the Pokémon characters are, and my own opinions have tended to vary on the subject of Bill's age, though I've concidered him to be seventeen here. Well, if his birthday were on the day that "Masaki no Toudai" aired (in the summer of 1997... I think...), concidering that this was written in winter of 2003 and that he's roughly the same age as Brock, Tracey, and Team Rocket (lax Meowth), and if Nintendo had its way, then Bill WOULD be seventeen at the time of this fic. -_- According to Nintendo, Brock, Tracey, Jessie, and James were all twelve at the beginning of the show (though they're all OBVIOUSLY over puberty, especially Brock), and if Bill's the same age, then add five years (not counting this year because we're supposing his birthday was on the day that "Masaki no Toudai" aired, and because it's not summer quite yet, then you should add five years instead of six) to get seventeen. Yep. I'm THAT kind of Pokémaniac... ^_^;  
  
*4*: There isn't a loft window. Why? Because baka Mai forgot barns had one until after she wrote that part. ^_^; (Hey, it's not like I live on a farm, you know. -_-) Anywho, we can always pretend that this was to keep the little birdie mentioned later from escaping. ^_^  
  
*5*: By this time, I'm sure all Pokémon fans have heard of Pokémon Advance, otherwise known as Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire. I'm supposing there's another one hundred Pokémon to find, bringing our total up to 351.  
  
*6*: I don't capitalize "god" here because of religious reasons. It's against my (former, as I'm currently an unclassified monotheist) religion to spell out "god" with a capital letter. Instead, many people write it as G-d, though to make it a bit easier to understand without referring to a footnote, I just don't capitalize it. (Though I'm not of that religion anymore, I'm still not comfortable with actually writing it out. O_o;)  
  
*7*: I told you to remember that kid. And keep remembering him; he's going to play a bigger role later. ^_- (Yep! Foreshadowing is fun for you AND me! XD [Inside joke. Sorry. ^_^;])  
  
*8*: I know this isn't really what happens in Pokémon Adventurers. (In Adventurers, Bill is older and ends up turning himself into a Rattata that gets snatched up by a single Fearow... until, of course, Red gets him down... which involves electricuting him with Pikachu first. You just have to feel sorry for poor Masaki-sama, no? ^_^;) But because I'm dealing with the anime version here (Notice I spoke of the lighthouse in the first episode. In every other version, save for Dengeki Pikachuu and the TCG where we don't actually know, he lives in the Sea Cottage.), I can make up things like that because barely any history had been given to him by the writers. Like I said, let's all feel sorry for Masaki-sama. *sympathetically* Aww...  
  
*9*: "He" would be Bill, obviously. And if you're wondering why they didn't notice him on the floor of the cellar, here's a little secret. They're not supposed to!  
  
*10*: SD. It means "super deformed." If you don't know what that looks like, it's the same thing as a chibi. And if you don't know what that looks like, and you've been in the anime fandom community for quite some time, then I have one question for you -- where have you been? =/  
  
*11*: For those of you who have found a dirty meaning in that, shame on you, you dirty, dirty child. -_-  
  
*12*: "Tobu" is Japanese for "fly" (as in the verb).  
  
*13*: "Suihei" is Japanese for "level" as in "horizontal."  
  
*14*: I know. I cut out the action. Why? It's supposed to point out that Bill's not the one battling; it's Sunny. If I didn't do this, then the second half of Bill's mission would be incomplete, and you'd have a never-ending second episode. And you don't want that, do you? ^_^;  
  
*15*: From its beginning to last year, Pokémon World (http://www.pokemon.com) had refered to Bill as McKenzie in its short summary of "Mystery at the Lighthouse." Many Bill fans (including myself and MeowthGal - http://www.geocities.com/billshrine) have actually adopted McKenzie as his surname, regardless of how questionable the information at Pokémon World is. =/ 


	3. Damsel in Distress

Foreword: As you may have noticed from the last update, I've upgraded the rating of Warp Series to PG-13. Why? Simply because, though this fanfiction contains no nudity and only light violence (The latter is only a heads up; I'm planning on using a bit of violence later on, but don't count on it.), it contains shameless cursing. And when I think of PG, I think of non-animated kiddie movies (ala Inspector Gadget or something), and I'm sure that others would feel the same way. And so that I won't be partially to blame for corrupting the younger visitors of Fanfiction.net (if I already haven't with Whose Line is it Anyways?: Pokémon Style... ^_^;), I've upgraded the warning. So if the parents of little seven-year-olds e-mail me to say that their kid read Warp Series and learned a few "naughty" words (unlikely, but I'm just saying...), then it'll be their fault.  
  
Sorry. Mai-chan's feeling a bit stressed today. Blame midterms and a cold. ¬_¬;  
  
Anywho, I'm hoping for a longer episode this time, with more story to it than the other two. Let's start, shall we?  
  
***  
Episode 03--  
Damsel in Distress  
  
It had been five days since the last shift with June. No wait, six. The digital clock on the nightstand changed to read midnight. There was a heavy sigh coming from the figure laying on his back on the bed next to this nightstand.  
  
Bill looked over and gazed at the red numbers which glowed softly in the darkness of his bedroom. He looked back at the ceiling with weary eyes. Still, he couldn't sleep, and he had a feeling he wasn't going to anytime soon during the night.  
  
For the past few hours, he had the strangest feeling that he'd be shifting, and this was something he didn't want to sleep through. Yet, not a single flash of silver light. Not a single blink after which he found himself in another body. And most of all, not a single peep from Ziggy. The latter alone he thought to be unusual.  
  
He sighed again and allowed his hand to drift up and rub his eyes briefly. It went back to his side again as he blinked and continued to stare at the ceiling.  
  
"Perhaps I'm just being paranoid," he mumbled to himself.  
  
He tried closing his eyes and falling asleep, but the sandman never came. He opened his eyes and remained still for a moment, then sat up, threw his legs over the side of the bed, and stood. Quietly, he exited his bedroom.  
  
~~~  
  
Ziggy yawned. "Do you know what time it is? Even I need to get some sleep!"  
  
"Sorry, Zig," Bill apologized as he began typing a paper on the computer in the cellar. "If I do a bit of work, it will take my mind off of shifting and help me get to sleep. Besides, thanks to Warp, I'm behind in my work for the Symposium."*1*  
  
"Take some sleeping pills and leave me alone," Ziggy snapped drowsily.  
  
"No one ever said that you had to stay up and watch me," he replied dryly.  
  
He continued to type about his latest project (after the TCB), which was the study of the relationship between the strength of a trainer-Pokémon partnership and the battling performance of Pokémon.  
  
"You keep me awake," she informed him.  
  
He smiled and continued. "Oh really? How would that be?"  
  
"I'm afraid that if I leave you alone with the computer, you'll go ahead and change my programming, run a virus scan, or delete me altogether," Ziggy explained.  
  
Bill paused for a moment. "And I thought I was being paranoid."  
  
He resumed typing.  
  
"But you would, wouldn't you?" she inquired.  
  
He stopped again. "I haven't done anything to you in ten years. What makes you think I would now?"  
  
She shrugged. "I came back, and you think I'm annoying. Or maybe it's the fact that you completely forgot about me until now, and you think I'm annoying."  
  
"I don't think you're annoying," Bill replied. "Well, not utterly annoying. You could be worse."  
  
"How worse?"  
  
"You could be Penny."*2*  
  
Ziggy looked at him blankly. He simply returned to his typing.  
  
"I'll take it as a compliment," Ziggy finally said.  
  
"Good," Bill responded. "That's what it was."  
  
"You know, I'm amazed that a loveless bastard like yourself is actually capable of a compliment," Ziggy commented with irritation caused by drowsiness.  
  
"Go to sleep, Ziggy," he retorted coldly.  
  
Ziggy narrowed her eyes at him. "Can't."  
  
"Ziggy, I won't do anything to you," Bill assured her.  
  
"It's not that."  
  
Bill stopped and sighed. "Then what?"  
  
"Zero's here," Ziggy told him.  
  
Bill froze. He stared with wide eyes at Ziggy, just before the flash of light followed by blackness blinded him.  
  
~~~  
  
He had fallen asleep as soon as he shifted in. He couldn't help it. He had become weary during his time in the cellar, and shifting took the last bit of energy out of him. So, rather than finding out where he was as soon as he reached his destination, he put it off until morning, when a Chansey woke him up and left the room.  
  
He looked around and found himself in a hospital. Clean floor, clean walls, clean, white beds, and clean windows through which light came through and drew a yellow rectangle on the floor.  
  
He pulled himself out of the bed he was laying in and stretched groggily. A few minutes later, when his senses came to him, he looked down at his hands to identify what he was.  
  
Pink? No hands, only stubby arms. Round, pink body with a red pouch with an egg...  
  
Wait...  
  
He grabbed a nearby bedpan and flipped it over to look at its metallic back.  
  
He found a Chansey's face staring back at him.  
  
{ZIGGY!!}  
  
Ziggy appeared, took one look at him, and burst out laughing. Between laughter and gasps for air, she managed to speak.  
  
"I... feel so... sorry for... you!"  
  
{This isn't funny!} Bill snapped. {I thought I wasn't able to shift into female Pokémon! How in the world did I shift into Chansey!?}*3*  
  
Ziggy finally calmed down. "Gender doesn't matter in the shifting business, Bill."  
  
{Oh, just perfect,} Bill growled with sarcasm. {Now when I go back to my own body, I'll have to worry about another sex change.}  
  
"You know, it's not that bad. Yet. I mean, what's wrong with being female?"  
  
{I don't mean to offend the females of the world, but I'm rather proud of being male, thank you very much.}  
  
"Whatever," Ziggy muttered.  
  
{Do you mind giving me a briefing?} Bill inquired. {I would appreciate getting out of here before a male Pokémon tries anything funny.}  
  
Ziggy laughed.  
  
{What? I'm just refering to the fact that I'm not mentally prepared to bear offspring in a female way.}  
  
Ziggy rolled her eyes and began. "Okay, this time, your host's owner's little sister, appropriately enough, Joy, is studying to be a Pokémon nurse. Unfortunately, she's not that great. In fact, I'd sympathize for the Pokémon after they'd go to her. Anyways, Joy's sisters, Nurse Joy, Nurse Joy, and Nurse Joy, are all talking about sending her away to a boarding school to become something other than a nurse. And trust me, in the future, this will be a bad thing. Your job is to help Joy learn how to do her family's job well before her sisters send her away."  
  
{Thanks, Ziggy.}  
  
"By the way, Bill..."  
  
{Hmm?}  
  
"You look pretty in pink."*4*  
  
{Shut up!!}  
  
~~~  
  
With no idea on what his host did around the Pokémon Center, he followed the other Chansey, trying to get an idea. Unfortunately, the other was getting a tad bit annoyed. Finally, just before the Chansey finally gave him a Double Slap, a piercing scream was heard in another room. Both he and the other Chansey went as fast as they could into the other room, just in time to see a twelve-year-old Joy bowing her head in shame.  
  
"Just look what you did!" the girl's older sister snapped, motioning to an injured and almost mummified Cubone on a table. "It's worse off than it was before you got your hands on it!"  
  
"I'm sorry," Joy mumbled. "I thought it would help..."  
  
Nurse Joy grunted and picked up the Cubone with gentle hands.  
  
"Now, let's make it all better..." Nurse Joy cooed to the Cubone, who immediately stopped bawling.  
  
Nurse Joy began taking off the bandages as Joy looked over her shoulder various times.  
  
"Is there anything I can do?" Joy inquired.  
  
"Go into the lobby and study," Nurse Joy replied. "And stay out of Joy and Joy's way."  
  
Joy's face fell as she retreated, past the Chanseys and into the lobby where a single backpack sat by a chair. From this backpack, she drew out a book on Pokémon medicine, flung herself into the chair, and opened it to begin reading.  
  
From the door to the lobby, Bill watched her for a moment before stepping over to her. She looked up and patted him on the head.  
  
"I don't know, Chansey," she said with a sigh. "I'd really like to be a nurse like my sisters and family, but I'm so much of a klutz that I hurt the Pokémon I take care of."  
  
{It takes practice to be a good nurse,} he replied.  
  
As if she understood, she smiled and went back to reading.  
  
~~~  
  
The three nurses stood side by side in the treatment room, prepared to give their little sister directions. Their young sister stood at an examination table with both Chanseys by her side, all three ready for a practice patient. The second-to-eldest Joy whipped out a PokéBall and summoned the Pokémon inside. A Persian appeared in a flash of energy that landed on the examination table.  
  
"Persians are proud Pokémon who don't like to be touched by their owners and especially don't like to have their tails pulled," the Nurse Joy stated. "Unlike Ninetails, who, according to Pokémopolis mythology, put a curse on those who manage to pull any of their nine tails, Persians like to deal with offenders with violence, usually administering a harsh Scratch or Slash attack on their enemy."  
  
The eldest spoke up. "Now, Joy, a good Pokémon nurse helps heal any wound or injury, no matter on what part of the body it happens to be on. If this Persian's tail was injured, show us how you would wrap it with a bandage."  
  
The youngest sister gulped, nodded, and picked up a light brown roll of Pokémon bandages. She carefully unrolled it part way and hesitated as she listened to the Persian purr and watched it stare at the wall in front of it. Cautiously, she tucked one end of the bandage under the cat's tail and began wrapping it. Without thinking, she grabbed the wrapped part. The Persian looked back at her sharply and drew out a pawful of claws. She screamed and backed away as the Persian jumped at her.   
  
Out of impulse, Bill got between Joy and Persian. He felt the Persian's claws cut across his face before the other Chansey managed to pull Persian off and restrain it.  
  
The nurses were in an uproar. The second-to-youngest darted over to take care of the result of Persian's attack on Bill as the eldest and second-born went over to scold Joy on her carelessness. Joy bowed her head again in shame.  
  
"I'm sorry," Joy murmured to her two older sisters.  
  
Her sisters exchanged glances.  
  
~~~  
  
The other Chansey had fallen asleep quickly that night, thinking it had been much too long of a day. Bill, however, looked over at his partner before getting out of bed and walking out of their room and down the hall.  
  
He passed by an open door from which the nurses' voices came. He backed up and peeked into the room, finding the three older sisters talking amongst themselves.  
  
"I don't think she's capable of being a good nurse," the third born commented. "What do you think?"  
  
"I think this one's nice," the second born commented, picking up a pamphlet. "It has many nice facilities and hundreds of courses to choose from."  
  
"Do you think it's necessary?" the third born inquired. "I mean, Joy's trying her hardest..."  
  
"...But she'll never be a nurse," the first born added.  
  
The other two nodded in agreement.  
  
Bill backed away from the door. No doubt they were discussing which school to send Joy to, and it sounded as if he had little time to get through to the young nurse-in-training.   
  
Quickly, he went down the hall to find Joy's room. He slowly opened the door to find two things he was looking for: a Pokédoll and Joy stretched out on her stomach on her bed as she read from a Pokémon medicine book. He opened the door further and slipped in.  
  
{Joy.}  
  
The girl looked up and at him.  
  
"Chansey?" She cocked her head. "What are you doing here?"  
  
He went over to pick up the doll before making his way back over to the doorway. He paused to look back at her briefly and stood there, waiting.  
  
"Do you want me to come with you?" Joy asked as she closed her book and sat up.  
  
He nodded, if Chanseys could nod at all. She stood and followed him out of the room, moving quietly through the hall, past her sisters' bedroom, and to the treatment room. Bill placed the doll on the examination table and hesitated.  
  
'So much for the easy part,' he thought. 'Now how can I instruct her when I can't speak to her?'  
  
"What's wrong?" Joy asked. "What are you doing?"  
  
He made no reply as he turned the doll so that its back was facing them. The doll had a tail, as it was a Meowth doll, and this stuck out at them just like a real Meowth's tail would. He left it like this as he went to look for a roll of bandages.  
  
"What are you doing?" Joy repeated.  
  
Bill didn't reply as he picked up a roll of bandages off of a counter and went back to the doll. He unrolled it a bit and wrapped the end around the end of the doll's tail. He then paused to take one of Joy's hands in one of his paws. He pulled her closer and put her fingers on the bandage, positioning her fingers in such a way that they held the tail firmly but gently so as not to greatly disturb the patient. He only hoped she was getting the idea.  
  
"I get it," Joy said softly. "You're trying to teach me about what I did wrong."  
  
Bill didn't reply as he took her other hand and had it take the roll. He pushed her hand to wrap the tail all the way to where it connected to the rest of the doll, then back up to where her other hand was. He then removed her hands, unwrapped the tail, and rolled up the bandage. He held it up to her expectantly.  
  
"You want me to do it by myself?" she inquired.  
  
He smiled in response.  
  
Cautiously, Joy took the roll and began, holding the tail just like Bill had her hold it before and wrapping it in the same fashion. Her hands met at the top of the tail, and she stood in disbelief.  
  
"That was easy!" she exclaimed.  
  
She unwrapped the tail and rolled up the bandage to put it away. Bill watched her.  
  
"Thank you so much, Chansey!" Joy bowed to him.  
  
He smiled. {Now, let's hope you remember that when you deal with a real Pokémon...}  
  
~~~  
  
Bill woke up the next morning to find Chansey poke at him.  
  
{Hey, lazy bones!} she addressed. {It's time to get up! You've got work to do!}  
  
{I do?} he mumbled groggily.  
  
{Yeah! It's your turn to make breakfast for us, remember?} Chansey inquired before pulling him out of bed and down the hall to the kitchen.  
  
After a long period of startled silence, Bill finally found his voice. {I-I have to do what!?}  
  
{Make breakfast for us, silly!} Chansey replied as she left him in the kitchen.  
  
{Oh good. Isn't it convenient that I had failed the cooking course in home economics...?} he muttered to himself sarcastically.  
  
He opened the refridgerator and stared at its contents.  
  
{Okay, Bill,} he said to himself as he picked up a carton of eggs. {How hard can this be? I mean, most people do this every day for themselves...}  
  
"You know, talking to yourself is the first sign that you're schizophrenic."*5*  
  
Bill gasped and nearly dropped the eggs. He set the carton down and whirled around, closing the refridgerator door behind him. Ziggy stood behind him, smiling.  
  
"Good morning, shiftette!" she greeted cheerfully, obviously poking fun at her creator's current situation. "Hope you had the chance to catch up on your beauty sleep!"  
  
{Knock it off, Ziggy,} Bill snapped. {What are you doing here anyways? I didn't call for you.}  
  
"Hey, I'm not a dog, and I don't always come because you call me," Ziggy replied.  
  
Bill narrowed his eyes. {I'll remember that. Now, why are you here?}  
  
"What? I can't check up on my favorite little shifter?" Ziggy gave him a hurt expression. "But seriously, I just wanted to see if you need help. Especially when common knowledge says you can't cook. We don't want you starting a fire or poisoning Joy before you complete your mission, now, do we?"  
  
{Hmm!}  
  
Joy poked her head into the room. "Do you need any help in here?"  
  
Ziggy put her hands behind her head and backed to a wall so she could watch both Bill and Joy.  
  
"I think I'll stay for awhile," she decided. "I just have to see you attempt to cook."  
  
{Oh, do what you want,} Bill hissed as Joy went over to the refridgerator to fish out the eggs.  
  
Joy went about the kitchen, grabbing a skillet, various utensils, and asking "Chansey" to help her get things. As she cracked the first egg and spilled its contents into the skillet sitting over one heated coil on the stove, she spoke to Bill.  
  
"You know, you've been acting odd lately," Joy commented.  
  
Startled by this, Bill jumped slightly and turned to gaze at Ziggy with a frantic look. She shrugged in response.  
  
"It's not that I'm complaining or anything," Joy continued. "I mean, it's just... You and the other Chansey always seem to side with my sisters. But then you saved me from Persian, and you taught me the proper way of applying a bandage. You must not want me to go..."  
  
'If her intuition takes her any further, the next thing she might be saying is that I'm a shifter!' Bill exclaimed mentally as he threw another nervous glance at Ziggy.  
  
"Thank you..." Joy sighed. "Sure, I'd love to be the first one in my family to try something other than Pokémon nursing, but... but I... I just don't want to leave." She looked down, further into the cooking eggs. "I don't want to leave my sisters, and I don't want to shame my family by being the black sheep."  
  
"Sound familiar, Bill?" Ziggy inquired.  
  
Bill didn't reply, though he was aware she was refering to his relationship with his father.  
  
Joy took a plate and slid the eggs onto it before setting the skillet on another burner, turning off the stove, and preparing the pancake batter. She looked down at Bill for a moment and smiled.  
  
"Don't worry. I won't tell Chansey," Joy told him gently. "And you don't have to do anything; I just wanted to make breakfast for my sisters. And who knows? Maybe if I don't become a good nurse, they'll keep me to become the center's cook!"  
  
As she finished making the batter, Bill backed out of the room, followed by Ziggy. Ziggy leaned against the hallway wall and stared at Bill again as he paced back and forth in the empty hall.  
  
"Well, it's a good thing she hasn't figured out that you're not really Chansey," Ziggy muttered.  
  
{Hmm...}  
  
"Penny for your thoughts?"  
  
{Nothing.}  
  
"Well, this whole thing is boring! Finish up your mission and come back!"  
  
Bill rolled his eyes.  
  
Ziggy gave a small wave. "Ciao!"  
  
With that, she disappeared. Bill stood in the hall with nothing to do.   
  
Suddenly, all three nurses and the other Chansey ran down the hall, passing Bill. He grabbed Chansey by the arm.  
  
{What happened?} he asked.  
  
{There's been a major accident,} Chansey replied. {A group of Pokémon headed for a television studio were travelling in a truck when the truck veered off the road and hit a pole.*6* There's going to be sixty plus Pokémon coming in, all of which need some sort of treatment. Get prepared and join us in the treatment room.}  
  
Bill nodded and followed Chansey to the treatment room. Joy poked her head out of the kitchen.  
  
"This could be my chance," she muttered to herself.  
  
~~~  
  
Chansey wasn't kidding when she said that sixty or more Pokémon were going to arrive. There was barely enough room in the treatment room for all of them, and almost everyone had their hands tied with only a few at a time. The three Joys kept giving each other loud commands, yelling over the cries of each Pokémon. Meanwhile, Chansey and Bill were trying to see to as many Pokémon as they could, though it was obvious there were just too many.  
  
As soon as he had finished treating a Paras with a crushed mushroom, Bill looked up to see Joy standing in the doorway, watching shyly. He went over to her and took her by the hand, trying to pull her over to another injured Pokémon.  
  
"Chansey, wait!" she cried. "I'm not ready for this! I thought I would be, but..."  
  
He took her over to a Growlithe with a sprained paw. The puppy whimpered in pain. Joy stared at it, obviously flustered.  
  
{Come on, Joy,} Bill finally said. {Don't be nervous. I know you know what to do here...}  
  
"Ice..." she muttered. "Ice to relieve pain and reduce swelling, followed by a secure wrap."*7*  
  
Bill smiled at this as Joy and he went about the room to find exactly what they needed to treat Growlithe. And after they were done with the fire-type, Joy smiled proudly at him.  
  
"Well?" she began. "Don't just stand there! We've got other Pokémon to help!"  
  
And so, Joy began making her own rounds as Bill followed, providing as much help as he could to the young nurse-in-training.  
  
Finally, they treated the last Pokémon, a bruised Kangaskhan baby, barely noticing that the three older Joys and Chansey were watching. Finally, as Joy finished and gave the baby a small kiss on its head, her older sisters clapped. She looked up at them with a surprised look on her face.  
  
"Congratulations, Joy!" they said as they gathered around their sister. "You passed!"  
  
"I passed?" Joy blinked.  
  
"You passed our test and proved you were paying attention," the second-to-youngest replied.  
  
"You proved you're nurse material," the second-born added.  
  
"And you proved that sending you away would just be a waste of money," the eldest finished. "We want you to stay here and learn more about Pokémon nursing."  
  
"Thanks," Joy said as she blushed. She then turned to Bill. "And thank you. If it weren't for you, I'd still be too nervous to treat Pokémon. You might not know it, but last night, as you helped me wrap Fluffy's tail, you made me think that there's no reason to be so tense when handling Pokémon. Thanks to you, I'll always be relaxed when I'm on duty!"  
  
Bill bowed to her as her sisters exchanged odd glances.  
  
Just then, the familiar silver light flashed in Bill's eyes.  
  
~~~  
  
He yawned and stretched, happy to be back in his male, human body.  
  
"Well, that wasn't so bad, wasn't it?" Ziggy said as she leaned back.  
  
"No, I suppose not," Bill replied. "However, it's making me worry..."  
  
"What? That someone's going to figure out that you're a shifter?" Ziggy inquired.  
  
"Well, not so much that. At most, the owners of my hosts might only suppose that their Pokémon had gone insane," Bill figured.  
  
"Then what are you worried about?"  
  
"The pattern of my shifts," he told her. "My first shift wasn't bad at all. In fact, the worst part about it was being in a Pokémon's body. My second shift, however, I ended up in a blind Pokémon.*8* Then, I was forced to shift into the one Pokémon I feared the most, and finally, I shift into a female Pokémon. At this rate, I only worry about what my next shift will take me into."  
  
"A Pokémon with a serious disease?"  
  
"Knock on wood."  
  
Ziggy shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Zero said she likes you. She wouldn't try to send you a mission that takes you into something she knows you can't handle."  
  
Bill gave a troubled sigh. "There's an old saying that goes, 'You hurt the ones you love.'"  
  
Ziggy shrugged again. "Don't worry about it."  
  
"I hope what you said earlier is true," Bill added with a weak smile.  
  
"Ziggy's never wrong," she responded. "Now rest up. You never know when Zero has another mission for you."  
  
"Thanks, Zig," Bill replied as he stood, saved his work, and continued upstairs.  
  
"Zero, please say I just told him the truth," Ziggy muttered. "Bill's not someone I want to lie to."  
  
~~~  
  
In Lokov's dark office, the Rocket leader leaned back in his chair, waiting. Finally, a voice floated over an intercom on his desk.  
  
"Sir, Master Giovanni is on line one," a female voice informed him.  
  
Lokov pressed a button on the device and replied, "Good. Put him through."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
A light blinked on his phone. He picked it up and pressed a button to answer.  
  
"Lokov," Giovanni addressed on the other end. "I believe you sent in a request for funding to back up a Project Antiwarp.*9* Is this correct?"  
  
"Yes, sir," Lokov replied.  
  
"Tell me more about this," Giovanni requested.  
  
"Sir, through Project Antiwarp, we can capture more Pokémon for our cause," Lokov told him. "The strongest and the rarest will be under our control."  
  
"How?"  
  
Lokov paused. "I can't quite say at this point, sir. Please don't think of it as insolence."  
  
There was a brief period of silence.  
  
"You have been one of my most loyal employees," Giovanni said. "You are one of my most trustworthy advisors, forever dedicated to Team Rocket. I will give you the funding without your explanation only because if you think it is a good investment, then it most likely is."  
  
"Thank you, sir," Lokov responded.  
  
"I expect complete success with this Project Antiwarp," Giovanni added before hanging up.  
  
Lokov placed the receiver back into its proper place.  
  
'Not only will this be good for Team Rocket,' Lokov thought before sneering, 'but it will also help me give that son of a bitch, McKenzie, exactly what he deserves...'*10*  
  
***  
  
End episode 3*11*  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: Symposium refers to the Pokémon Symposium, which is, from what I hear, a council of Pokémon experts who get together and discuss... well, Pokémon. (I know, I know. Badly worded. Sorry about that.) It was mentioned only once in the anime, during the episode "The Evolution Solution" or whatever Westwood's episode had been. (I'm not good with episode titles, obviously.)  
  
*2*: Penny is the name I gave to Bill's sister (the one in Fuschia). She was supposed to appear in a fanfiction, but I never actually wrote it. O_o; Anywho, the reason why Bill says she's worse than Ziggy is because Penny had been based on Kotobuki Ran from GALS!, making her a shopaholic, a boy chaser, and a fashion sheep. Which then causes her to have major personality conflicts between Bill and herself. Which means that both would rather be shot and put six feet under rather than having to stay in the same room as the other for more than five minutes. Which would be bad. ^_^;  
  
*3*: For those of you who have never touched the game (though I highly doubt that) and have only watched the anime, where all Pokémon, save for Meowth and Madame Muchmoney's Snubbull/Granbull, are called "it", all Chanseys are female. And furthermore, I know I'm twistedly sadistic in this episode, but hey, I've been dying to put some of my signature humor into this. Besides, Sam Beckett's definitely had worse. "8 ½ months," anyone?  
  
*4*: This would be a pun on an 80's movie, Pretty in Pink. The joke's obscure (Don't worry; I've never seen the movie either.) and dry, but so are many other puns. (And we know how puntastic Pokémon is by itself, am I right? I mean, seriously. Ash Ketchum. Ketchum. As in "catch 'em." *in a corny 50's-commercial voice* It's puntastic!)  
  
*5*: If this were true, I would've had to get a private therapist a LONG time ago. But then again, some people out there say there's other reasons why I should be kept in a room with padded walls (I really didn't think that I'd get THAT kind of reaction by saying "It's a government conspiracy tied in with Roswell and the ambassador from the distant planet of Vulcan" really loudly during study hall... O_o;), but oh well. =/  
  
*6*: I know this sounds remarkably like the situation in "A Chansey Operation," but I couldn't think of another event that could possibly bring a large amount of Pokémon to a single Pokémon Center... Except for maybe an all-out war or a Pokémon version of the Black Plague... o_o;  
  
*7*: I can't remember if this is how you treat a sprain. Frankly, I, along with most of my fellow students, had zoned out the health class in which we learned that. ^_^;  
  
*8*: Originally, I had planned to write about every shift until I decided to only write about the important ones. With the former, I planned on having Bill shift into a Zubat for the second episode. I should have written about it, though. I had a pretty decent joke involving Zubat flight, lack of eyesight, and a tree... (I know. I'm a sadist. Like you haven't already figured that out... ^_^;)  
  
*9*: I'm aware that I never made it clear that Bill mentioned Warp in his document. Just assume he had. ^_^;  
  
*10*: Ouch. Wonder what he means by that? (Hee hee! Cliffhanger!)  
  
*11*: I'm aware that, though I said I was hoping for a longer episode in the foreword, this is actually a SHORTER episode. It came up one page short, only twelve pages compared to my usual of thirteen. On the other hand, I believe this one had more plot to it than the first two episodes. Or I'd like to think it does. *coughs* ^_^; (And I'd also like to apologize for this not being as humorous as I had hoped. The more I worked on it, the more jokes were sucked out of it. -_-;) 


	4. Love in Full Bloom

Foreword: Think of this as the Valentine's Day special of Warp Series. I've decided to update the story every Monday, but Valentine's Day occurs on a Friday between today and next week. Therefore, rather than getting one episode done by Wednesday and doing a quick episode for Friday, I'm just having an episode done and up for the public to read for Friday.  
  
Sorry. Babbling. ^_^;  
  
Anywho, on with the show!  
  
***  
Episode 04--  
Love in Full Bloom  
  
...  
  
There she was again. A girl in white stood, framed by the sunset beyond a lake, with her back to him. She was so small. So delicate. What was she doing there?  
  
He reached out to her.   
  
His voice came so nervously. "Miss?"  
  
She looked back at him for a moment with a glance that told him she was expecting him. Her eyes were so bright they startled him.  
  
"I know why you're here," she said with a soft, wind-chime voice, "and your answers will come in good time."  
  
"In good time...?"   
  
He tried to stop her to ask more, but suddenly, everything went hazy.  
  
~~~  
  
Slowly, Bill woke up and found himself on a train ride to Goldenrod City. There was no one next to him, and because night had fallen, most of the other passengers were still asleep. He, on the other hand, was now wide awake and watching the nighttime scenery go past.  
  
He briefly remembered the call he had received from his mother, reminding him that he had promised to go back to Goldenrod for one occasion to each season -- a winter visit on Christmas, a spring visit on his younger sister's birthday, an autumn visit for Thanksgiving, and what would occur the next day, his older sister's birthday in the beginning of August. He couldn't break a promise to his family, and silently, he prayed that he wouldn't have to shift and disappear for a few days, leaving his family to worry.  
  
Ziggy appeared and sat beside him in the empty seat. Bill looked over, saw her, and looked around at the sleeping passengers with wide, startled eyes before speaking.  
  
"Ziggy? What are you doing here?" he hissed. "Please don't say I have to shift!"  
  
"You don't," Ziggy replied. "I just want to tag along."  
  
"No offense, but I would rather not have momentos from the office following me around on my vacation," Bill said lightly.  
  
She narrowed her eyes at him angrilly.  
  
The train came to a stop at the Goldenrod Station. People slowly woke up and began gathering their things. Bill stared directly at Ziggy and mouthed "go home" to her.  
  
"Oh, you're no fun!" Ziggy snapped. "Ciao!"  
  
She disappeared, much to Bill's relief.  
  
He picked up his backpack and headed off the train.  
  
~~~  
  
He reached a familiar street and looked around. It seemed like not one building had been added or demolished. Everything seemed as if time had frozen while he was gone. He sighed in nostalgia.  
  
'Goldenrod City,' he thought. 'For such a major city, it's surprising this old neighborhood hadn't changed...'  
  
He walked by familiar storefronts and into a residential area where cute, little apartment buildings and houses lined the streets and began giving each other more and more green space as he went on. Finally, he stopped at a modest, two-story house surrounded with green. The porch lamp was still on, despite how late it was. He smiled.  
  
'Home...'  
  
He approached the door and rang the doorbell next to it. Inside, he could hear a Growlithe barking and scampering to the door. A few moments later, the door swung open, revealing a girl with bright, hazel eyes, straight, chin-length red hair, and a long t-shirt covering her thin body.  
  
"Hello, miss!" He greeted with a cheerful tone. "What would a young girl such as yourself be doing awake at hours like this?"  
  
"I'm not young," the girl replied in her sharp, American voice. "I'm only four years younger than you are."  
  
"Judith? Who is it?" a female voice asked from another room.  
  
"Just an ax murderer who wants to kill us all, Mom," she replied.  
  
The mother sighed. "Quit joking around and let your brother inside."  
  
The girl rolled her eyes and stepped aside. "Hi, Bill."  
  
"Good evening, Jude," he replied as he stepped inside, putting a hand on her head and messing up her hair as he passed by.  
  
Jude growled and tried to straighten her hair as the Growlithe came bounding over. It stopped and sniffed at Bill (just as he bent down to take off his shoes) before jumping on him and trying to lick his face.  
  
"Hello, Milo!" Bill greeted happily as he stroked the puppy on its head.  
  
A woman in a blue nightgown walked over and closed the front door. Her perfect face was framed with short, red curls, and her hazel eyes gleamed with contentment. At seeing this woman, Bill abruptly stood.  
  
"Mother..." He smiled.  
  
The woman threw her arms around him.  
  
"All that time without writing!" she gasped. "You always worry me, William..."  
  
"I'm sorry, Mom," he muttered to her, loosely returning her embrace.  
  
Jude rolled her eyes at the warm scene as Milo cocked his head. Finally, Mrs. McKenzie released her son.  
  
"So where might Penny be?" Bill inquired.  
  
"In her room, catching up on her beauty sleep," Jude replied. "Don't go in there. She's got a facial mask on, and it's enough to scare a Gengar."  
  
"Be nice about your sister, Judith," the mother scolded.  
  
Jude leaned over to whisper to Bill, "And I think we both know where Dad is."  
  
Jude rolled her eyes as Bill sighed.  
  
"Does she know?" Bill inquired as their mother returned to her bedroom.   
  
Jude cocked her head. "Does who know what?"  
  
"Does Mom know that Dad..." His voice trailed off.  
  
"She's not oblivious to the obvious, Bill," Jude answered coldly. "EVERYONE knows that Dad has a gambling problem. He just doesn't stay away from that Goldenrod Game Corner, and things haven't changed since you left. Mom had even thought about asking you to come back to help us support the family. Her dancing school's*1* not going to support the four of us all the time."  
  
"I'm afraid I can't stay, though. My presence will just worsen Dad's gambling addiction," Bill said. "He still has that grudge against me, and he'll relieve that anger by gambling."  
  
"That's why he's not here right now," Jude agreed.  
  
Bill picked up his backpack. "I'm off to unpack and get some rest. I assume you'll be going to sleep as well. After all, a young lady like yourself needs all the sleep she can get so she can grow."  
  
Jude scowled at him as he reached over and mused her hair again before turning a corner behind him and walking down a hallway beyond this.  
  
"It doesn't matter that you're my flesh and blood," Jude snapped, "because sooner or later, I'm going to make you need a transplant of both!"  
  
He poked his head back into the main hall, smiled mischieviously, and wagged his left index finger at her. "Ah ah ah, young lady! It's not polite to threaten your elders..."  
  
"I'm ONLY four years younger than you are!" Jude insisted.  
  
Bill began walking down the hall again. "Which makes me your elder!"  
  
Jude growled.  
  
~~~  
  
With a night of peaceful rest behind him, Bill found himself walking down the familiar streets of Goldenrod City with a list in hand for his mother. It wasn't a usual grocery list; it was instead a list of certain flowers and plants.  
  
Though the school Mrs. McKenzie ran was primarily a dancing school for ballet, jazz, and tap as well as traditional Japanese folk dance, it also had classes for several other activities, including both Western flower arranging and Ikebana.*2* Every week, she would place an order for flowers and greenery to use in these classes at the Goldenrod Flower Shop.   
  
However, this week, she had her hands full with both teaching her own class of Japanese dancers as well as going home to plan Penny's party. Eagerly, her son promised to place the order for her. He didn't mind doing it only because Zoe would no doubt be there.  
  
'Zoe...' He blushed and looked up at the blue sky above the buildings, smiling with contentment as he pictured her.  
  
Zoe*3* was the daughter of the owner of the flower shop, Mr. Rosenblum. In Bill's eyes, she was the strawberry-blonde, sapphire-eyed gift from Heaven...   
  
...That he wouldn't have a chance with even if Hell froze over. It seemed as if her smile alone can attract every guy in Goldenrod City, so what use is it to take a number just to go out on a date with her? After all, there WERE better-looking guys, guys who were more popular or more athletic... Zoe wouldn't be interested in a computer geek.  
  
He sighed sadly as he realized that he reached the shop. Plants sat in pots outside of the brick building as well as just inside the windows, above which a sign announcing the store's name was attached to the outside wall.  
  
He took a deep breath, straightened up, and walked inside.  
  
Inside, more plants were scattered around the room in pots along with shelves of cards, candy, and stuffed animals. Along the left wall, there was a row of glass doors, behind which were freezers where various flowers were kept in bouquets wrapped with plastic wrap and stored in plastic containers. The left wall held shelves of boxes, and within each box, a single Leaf Stone or Sun Stone sat, nestled in wax paper.   
  
If this store was famous for anything at all, it was for these boxes. You couldn't get one cheaper or easier in all of Johto. These Leaf Stones were cheaper than the ones sold on the sixth floor of the Goldenrod Department Store, and the Sun Stones were easier to get than competing for ones in the Bug Catching Contest (though bragging rights never came with the neat boxes on the higher shelves). These shelves attracted all the business Mr. Rosenblum and his fathers, grandfathers, and generally everyone who ever owned the store ever wanted. In fact, for as many summer days as Bill had seen, there had always been at least four trainers an hour, buying two or three of these little boxes.  
  
But this summer afternoon, Bill was alone in the shop.   
  
He walked straight ahead to the counter, spotted a bell, and rang it. A plump woman with faded, red hair and worried violet eyes rushed out of a door behind the counter (the one leading to a greenhouse). As soon as she saw Bill, her eyes lit up with glee.  
  
"Oh! May I help you?" she asked.  
  
"Good morning, Mrs. Rosenblum," he greeted. "You may not remember me, but I'm Flora McKenzie's son, Bill. She wanted me to bring you this week's order."  
  
He handed her the list across the counter. She nodded.  
  
"I see!" Mrs. Rosenblum exclaimed. "Another order for the school! Oh, it's nice to have business again! Let me just write this up and give you the receipt to take back to Flora..."  
  
The middle-aged woman began typing on the store computer. Bill didn't mind waiting, however, because at that moment, a young woman about his age with long, strawberry hair in a braid down her back and to her elbows, carrying a squirt bottle came out to water the plants. Zoe.  
  
He watched her as she hummed a little tune and sprayed a few potted violets. She realized she was being watched and turned abruptly around to see him. He blushed and looked away, noticing out of the corner of his eye the small smile she gave him before turning back to the plants.  
  
"You're the first customer we've had in awhile," Mrs. Rosenblum commented as she finished up.  
  
Bill barely noticed this. He barely even noticed when Mrs. Rosenblum gave him the receipt and told him that his mother wouldn't have to pay until the delivery arrived. It didn't even register to him that he had begun walking out the door, nearly tripping over countless shelf bases and pots before finally reaching the outdoors.  
  
Zoe watched him, giggled, and turned back to watering the plants.  
  
"He's cute and brainy, but he's incredibly weird," she muttered.  
  
~~~  
  
Bill wandered around Goldenrod, not really heading home (because you never get anywhere in Goldenrod unless you're focused on getting there) but not really aimless either. He was happily drifting in his mind, remembering the image of the modern Zoe.   
  
She had changed from the first time they had met, years ago when they were both ten. Bill had made a similar errand for his mother and spotted Zoe playing with a teddy bear she was supposed to keep on the shelf (the tenth of ten she was supposed to put in stock, actually). She gave him this childish smile that made him think she were immature, and yet, for some reason, from that moment on, he loved her. But everytime he saw her from then on, he just couldn't bring himself to ask her on a date, let alone keep himself like acting like a klutzy goofball every single time she's within ten feet of him.  
  
He found himself at a dead-end. Before him was a chainlink fence beyond which was the other end of the alley.  
  
'How did I end up here?' he thought, slowly snapping out of it.  
  
"You know, for a human, you certainly have MAJOR issues."  
  
"Ziggy!?" Bill jumped and turned around, finding the hologram standing behind him with her hands on her hips.  
  
"So, didja miss me?" she asked cheerfully.  
  
"Ziggy, didn't I tell you to stay at home?" Bill countered with an annoyed tone.  
  
"Yeah? Well, this time, I've got a good reason for being here," Ziggy told him. "I came to tell you that you've got work to do."  
  
"Work?" Bill stepped back in horror. "Ziggy! N-No! I can't!" He shut his eyes tightly, trying to keep whatever left him during his shifts in his body. "Not here! Not now!"  
  
"Too late."  
  
Bill opened his eyes at the sound of Ziggy's voice and found both he and her standing in the middle of a greenhouse, surrounded by potted plants. He gasped with shock and looked down at his hands.  
  
His hands weren't there, having been replaced with greenish-blue stubs. He looked down at his legs and found them to be surrounded with a strange skirt made of leaves. His arms traveled to his head and found two flowers coming from the round top.  
  
{Bellossom?}  
  
"Yep!" Ziggy nodded. "And not just ANY Bellossom! See, if you were LISTENING to what Mrs. Rosenblum had to say, she said that you were the first customer she and her husband have had in awhile. And awhile being half a year!"  
  
{I don't remember her saying anything about customers...}  
  
"That's because you were busy trying to get a good look at Zoe's butt at that time to focus on what's important," Ziggy snapped. "Honestly, I don't see what makes her pretty..."  
  
{Um... Ziggy? The briefing?}  
  
"Right. Anyways, their business is going through the floor, but without the shop, they've got nothing. Absolutely nothing. Somehow, Bellossom will be their lucky charm sometime in the near future, so you've got to help Bellossom help the Rosenblums. Got it? Good. And keep your head out of the clouds!"  
  
Bill rolled his eyes.  
  
"Ciao!"  
  
With a small wave, Ziggy disappeared. As soon as she did, Bill took a deep breath.  
  
{Okay, Bill, focus. To get this shift over with quickly, you MUST stay grounded at all times...}  
  
"Bellossom!" Zoe called.  
  
Upon hearing her voice, he seized up and drifted into a dream-like state as Zoe walked in to look for him. He didn't move, standing in a daze.  
  
Hiding among the plants, Ziggy sighed and slapped her forehead. "He is SO hopeless..."  
  
"There you are!" Zoe picked Bill up and hugged him before walking out of the greenhouse.  
  
Ziggy followed, passing through the wall and calling out to her creator, "Hey, Romeo! Don't forget your mission!"  
  
He didn't respond. Ziggy took one look at his goofy face and growled. She followed Zoe as Zoe put him on the counter briefly. Ziggy snapped her fingers in front of Bill's face.  
  
"Hey, Cassanova! Snap out of it!" she hissed.  
  
He mumbled something, but she couldn't tell what.  
  
"Hey! Bill! Come back to Earth and start your mission!"  
  
Still nothing.  
  
She tested him. "You're a jackass who doesn't know the first thing about Pokémon OR computers!"  
  
Still nothing.  
  
"Well, if you don't respond to that, you're either dead, in a coma, or too out there to know WHAT'S going on on this planet!" Ziggy snapped.  
  
Still no response from the other.  
  
"Oh fine! Stay stuck in Bellossom's body!" She stepped backwards and sneered. "I don't even get it. She's not pretty, but he's even dreaming about her! But you know what? I don't care! I'm outta here! Ciao!"  
  
With that, she disappeared.  
  
~~~  
  
Lokov stood in the darkened office, staring at the intercom, waiting for a message from his secretary. All day, there was silence between them, save for a "Good morning, sir" from her. It made Lokov restless.  
  
He paced, still waiting for her voice, eyes glued to the device on his desk like a leopard's would be to his prey.  
  
Finally, there was a crackling, followed by her voice. "Agents Bonnie and Clyde are here to see you, sir."  
  
With one quick movement, he reached over to press a button which allowed him to reply. "Good! Send them in!"  
  
The female agent with the pink pigtails and wine-colored eyes stepped in first, leading her partner, a young man with long, black hair reaching his elbows and irresistable blue eyes.  
  
"Boss Lokov, Dr. Crocus sent us to inform you that Project Antiwarp is almost ready," Bonnie told him in her thick, Southern accent. "He wishes that you come to inspect it right away."  
  
"Excellent," Lokov replied. "Lead me to him."  
  
The agents bowed and lead him out of the darkened office, through the brighter-lit secretary's office, and to a dimly lit hallway. They continued down this hall, past countless doors, and to a single, steel door marked "Lab" at its end. Clyde pushed this door open, leading the group of three onto a platform in a gigantic room.  
  
Chaos was everywhere, just the way Team Rocket loved it. Wires, machines, scientists, all everywhere and anywhere. The three stood on this platform overlooking the lot as one woman in a labcoat with her fire hair in a tight bun on her head and her squinting, mahogany eyes behind a pair of horn-rimmed glasses.  
  
She reached out to shake Lokov's hand as she greeted him. "Boss Lokov, it's an honor to have you come down here to--"  
  
"Project Antiwarp," Lokov interrupted. "Tell me about it, Crocus."  
  
Dr. Crocus gave him a flustered look before beginning. "Well, sir, it's 98% ready. Follow me, and I'll show you what we have so far."  
  
She turned and walked down a flight of metal stairs to reach the cement ground. Lokov dismissed Bonnie and Clyde and followed. He'd been waiting a week and a half for this*4*, and he was quite eager to see what Team Rocket's best and brightest legion of scientists finished so far.  
  
Dr. Crocus and Lokov wove through the bustle of scientists and tangle of wires before reaching an almost replica of the Time Capsule Beta. Crocus finally turned to Lokov and spoke again.  
  
"Sir, we've replicated most of the blueprints and programming the disc had provided for us," Crocus informed him. "By tomorrow, we'll be able to do a test run exactly how McKenzie explained it, producing our own shifter for our own needs. However, there is one thing you should know."  
  
"What?" Lokov snapped.  
  
"We need more information," Crocus told him. "Little is known about shifting itself, hense why we're reluctant to put an agent, let alone yourself, through. And we must also find out more about this Zigurat Alpha. According to McKenzie, Zigurat Alpha is a useful source of information on shifting and a great help to him during a shift. Perhaps we can do with something similar."  
  
Lokov narrowed his eyes at her in thought. "Hmm... I believe this will require a little visit to our little researching friend..."  
  
~~~  
  
Zoe became worried about her Bellossom. It just seemed out there in the past few hours, but she couldn't figure out why. It was usually rather energetic, but now, all it did was stare off into space.  
  
She had no idea that inside, a new mind was constantly floating off into space.  
  
With a sigh, she left it in her room and went back downstairs to the store.  
  
For a few minutes, Bellossom still stared off into space before finally, it shook its head vigorously.  
  
{What's wrong with me?} Bill rubbed his head. {Why can't I focus when I think about...}   
  
He drifted off again. {...Zoe...}  
  
This time, he shook his head and smacked himself.   
  
{Get a grip on yourself, Bill!}  
  
He sighed and calmed before a look of pure determination crossed his face. He hopped off of the bed he was placed on, made his way over to the closed, bedroom door, and stared up at the doorknob.  
  
{If I want to get out of here quickly, I'm going to have to focus on this mission!}  
  
He jumped up, grabbed the knob, and twisted it until the door opened with a click. He placed one foot*5* on the doorframe and pushed off, pulling the door open. He let go and dropped to the floor before darting out of the room.  
  
In the next few minutes, he found himself in the shop, eavesdropping on a conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Rosenblum.  
  
"I don't know what to do!" Mr. Rosenblum sobbed. "Those peddlers keep lowering their prices and attracting all of our business! We won't be able to live on just the money we get off of prom and wedding season!"  
  
"But you know they're fake! Why won't you tell the trainers that?" Mrs. Rosenblum asked.  
  
"They only want cheap evolution stones!" her husband replied. "They won't listen! And when they don't work, they don't blame the stones! They blame themselves or their Pokémon! It's horrible, April!"  
  
"But what about the police? Wouldn't they have something to say about this?" Mrs. Rosenblum inquired.  
  
"Officer Jenny claimed she would take care of it," Mr. Rosenblum answered, "but the peddlers keep selling in different parts of the city! She can't catch them!"  
  
Zoe came up from behind him. "How did you get out here?"  
  
Bill froze, barely noticing that he was being picked up by Zoe. He had drifted off again.  
  
Zoe had listened to her father speaking earlier, and so she hugged her Bellossom tightly to her chest (and I'm sure you can imagine how Bill felt about that) like a child with a teddy bear and approached her parents.  
  
"Mamma, Papa, I'm going to find those peddlers for us," Zoe announced. "I'm going to stop them from selling those fake stones! No trainer should have a faulty evolution, and we don't deserve what these peddlers have done to our business!"  
  
Before her parents could stop her, Zoe stormed out of the shop with her Bellossom in her arms.  
  
~~~  
  
Zoe, still carrying Bill, had combed the city, looking for the peddlers her father had described so many times that week. A girl with long, blonde hair in a long pigtail, a boy with spiked, aqua hair, and a Murkrow with an orange scarf around its neck. How hard could it be to find them?  
  
Finally, she spotted aqua spikes pushing through a sea of heads across the street. Zoe ran across and grabbed the young man by one of his cloak-clad arms.  
  
"Hey, you!" she yelled. "Have you been peddling fake evolution stones!?"  
  
The aqua-haired boy turned around. A blonde in a matching, gray cloak with a Murkrow on her shoulder paused.  
  
"I can assure you that these stones are every ounce real, kiddo," the boy replied.  
  
"That's not what my dad tells me," Zoe snapped. "My dad owns the flower shop on the other side of town, and we sell REAL evolution stones. He can tell the difference between real stones and the fake crap you've been feeding trainers, even without all the complaints from the poor people you've sold stones to!"  
  
The girl smirked. "You're nosy, kid. Why don't you keep that troublesome snout in your own business?"  
  
"Stones ARE my buisness," Zoe retorted. "Now get out of town before I have to call the cops and get you in trouble!"  
  
"Trouble? That's what we do, girlie, so prepare for trouble," the girl told her.  
  
"And while you're at it, make it double," the boy added, wrenching his arm out of her hands.  
  
"You're about to witness a new revolution!"  
  
"We're the best thing since Pokémon evolution!"  
  
"We're masters of mayhem, illusion, and disguise!"  
  
"Heeding this warning is an idea of the wise!"  
  
The girl took off her cloak to reveal a standard, black Rocket uniform. "Jackylin!"  
  
The boy did the same to show his uniform. "Hyde!"  
  
"Team Rocket! Our success is clear!"  
  
"Give up now; you can't win here!"  
  
The Murkrow squawked. "That's right!"  
  
Zoe dropped Bill and pointed at Team Rocket.  
  
"Go get them, Bellossom!" she ordered.  
  
He was still dazed and, for a long moment, just stood there. The Rockets began cracking up.  
  
"It won't listen to her!" Jackylin managed to choke out.  
  
Hyde smirked. "Then this will be easy!"   
  
Hyde threw a net over Bill. The Bellossom didn't struggle, nor was he aware of what was happening for that matter. Not even as Team Rocket took him away.  
  
"No! They're taking my Bellossom away!" Zoe screamed.  
  
The Rockets disappeared into a listless crowd. The other citizens seemed deaf and blind to what was happening.  
  
And so did the shifter.  
  
~~~  
  
When Bill snapped out of it, he found himself in a furniture-less apartment room, trapped in a cage which sat on a crate. Hyde sat on another crate by a window, drinking a liquid from an unknown, gold soda can. Jackylin sat on a crate across the window from him, facing Bill and leaning against the wall. Murkrow stood under the window, facing the cage as well.  
  
"So, what are we gonna do with the Bellossom?" Hyde finally inquired his partner.  
  
Jackylin gave her partner a strange look. "We're going to chop it up, put it in a pie, and sell the pie to school children." Her voice lost all sarcasm. "What do you think we're gonna do with it, moron!?"  
  
"Replace Murkrow?"  
  
"Don't dis my Murkrow," Jackylin snapped as she reached down to stroke the bird's head. "But no, Hyde. We're gonna give it to Master Giovanni. He's going to give us a raise. We will take the money we've made selling fake stones in this hell city, plus the raise, and go off to be happy. Okay!?"  
  
"Okay! I've got it!" Hyde rolled his eyes before finishing his drink and putting the can in the crate.  
  
"Why do you do that?" Jackylin inquired.  
  
"Five cents to every recycled can," Hyde muttered.  
  
Jackylin rolled her eyes before closing them. "Get some sleep. Tonight, we're going to hop a train to Saffron City and make our way over to Viridian to give that walking flower garden to the boss."  
  
Hyde nodded, turned to lean against the wall like Jackylin had, and closed his eyes. Bill waited for a few more moments, when he was sure all three Rockets were asleep, before speaking.  
  
{Ziggy? Ziggy, can you hear me?}  
  
"I wish I couldn't, but okay."  
  
Ziggy appeared next to the cage. She smirked and knelt down as Bill gave her a frantic look.  
  
"Well, well. Daydreaming all through the mission has finally come back to haunt you, huh?" she sneered.  
  
{Ziggy, you MUST help me!} Bill half-begged.  
  
Ziggy crossed her arms and blinked, imitating Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie. "Oh, yes, Master! I'll do anything you want because I'm an all-powerful goddess who can do things like that!"  
  
{Ziggy, this is no time for sarcasm!} Bill hissed. {Bellossom is about to be taken to the leader of the Rockets, and if I'm stuck in here, well, let's just say I'm in deep trouble!}  
  
"Yeah? Well, I don't see how I can help you here. I'm a hologram, remember? I can't really help you with solids..."  
  
{Just tell me if there's anything that Bellossom can do!}  
  
"Well, why didn't you say so?" Ziggy shrugged. "Bellossom still has a Gloom moveset, including moves like... um... Acid?"  
  
Bill's face lit up. {Acid! That's perfect!}  
  
Bill turned, concentrated, and spat a black liquid onto the bars of the cage. He waited, watching as the acid ate away at the metal, creating a hole just big enough for him to climb through. He passed through the hole and stumbled onto the floor on the other side, smacking the wooden surface with a thump. He was alarmed by Murkrow's sharp cry, awakening the other Rockets, causing the two of them to shout sharp curses at their feathered teammate.  
  
{Ziggy! Give me another move!} Bill ordered.  
  
Ziggy paused in thought for a moment before replying, "Sleep Powder!"  
  
{Perfect!}  
  
Bill darted around the crate and sprayed a fine, blue dust on the Rockets. Within minutes, they were back asleep again.  
  
Bill darted toward the door, taking one last look at Ziggy.  
  
{Ziggy, I thank you so much that if you weren't a hologram, I would have kissed you to make it up to you.}  
  
He used Acid on the door to create a hole wide enough to slip through. He darted through this and made his way to the ground floor to exit the building and find his way back to Zoe and the police.  
  
Ziggy remained in the room and blushed.  
  
"Too bad I AM a hologram..."  
  
~~~  
  
Bill slowly woke up the next day, hoping that the day before had been a whole dream. Unfortunately, once again, he found himself in Bellossom's body.  
  
He sat up, trying to remember what had happened the night before. Fuzzy images of escaping the clutches of Team Rocket and making his way back to Zoe's arms floated into his mind, but once again, blanks were drawn after that.  
  
He mentally kicked himself for zoning out again.  
  
And yet...  
  
{Ziggy!}  
  
Ziggy appeared with an irritated glance. "You haven't gone back to your own body yet? My god, how much do you like this girl!?"  
  
{Ziggy, get serious. Why haven't I shifted back yet!?}  
  
"Hmm..." She brought an index finger to her mouth for a moment to think. "Maybe it's because..." She bent down to slap him. "YOU DIDN'T COMPLETE YOUR MISSION YET!"  
  
Bill was startled by her reaction.  
  
"You've spent so much time dreaming about Zoe, you can't even focus on what's IMPORTANT!" Ziggy snapped. "You've got to save the Rosenblums from financial disaster somehow, and you're too busy wandering off to Dream Land! You're running out of time, so if you want to get back to your human body some time soon, start concentrating! If you don't, then... well, I hope you like being a Bellossom!"  
  
There was a long period of silence.  
  
{Ziggy,} Bill began.  
  
Ziggy turned away from him. "Even I'm not that out there. Ciao."  
  
She gave him a small wave and disappeared. His eyes widened.  
  
{Ziggy! Wait!}  
  
She didn't return.  
  
{Oh boy...}  
  
One of Bill's stubs drifted up to the spot Ziggy had struck. He closed his eyes.  
  
{She's right, though...}  
  
With an expression of determination, he walked out of Zoe's bedroom (where he had been).  
  
Outside the window, Ziggy looked in before turning around and leaning against the wall to the left of the glass. She sighed.  
  
"Zoe doesn't deserve him," she muttered to herself. "She doesn't get Bill the way I do. No one does."  
  
She sighed and looked up to the sky.  
  
"I just wish he'd take the time to understand me that way..."  
  
~~~  
  
Bill finally found out what Bellossom did at the flower shop. Advertising. With Zoe watching somewhere behind him, he stood outside the shop and continuously performed Petal Dances. The petals would occassionally catch the eyes of passing flower lovers who would stop to buy a pot or two for their gardens, and even once a bride-to-be stopped due to the petals and walked in to order flowers for her wedding. What Ziggy had said about Bellossom being the Rosenblum's financial lucky charm finally made sense.  
  
And, like using other Pokémon powers, this was rather relaxing...  
  
Because he was busy dancing, he didn't see Jackylin and Hyde hiding in the crowd which had gathered. They glanced at each other, plotting revenge on the dancing flower. With a smirk, they nodded to each other and parted ways, Jackylin weaving through the left side of the crowd; Hyde taking the right.  
  
Bill finished his current dance and bowed. It wasn't out of obligation; he just found the reason why Bellossom became confused after Petal Dance and needed a chance to stop and settle his stomach for awhile.*6*  
  
A smoke bomb went off. Bill looked up sharply (and wished he hadn't for a moment) and dropped off of the table he stood on, trying to avoid the smoke. Without much warning, he was kicked under the table by a pair of boots. He remained still and under, listening to the chaos around him as well as two specific voices.  
  
"Where's that stupid weed!?" Jackylin hissed.  
  
"How should I know!?" Hyde snapped. "The smoke from your stupid smokebomb is blinding me!"  
  
"Well, would you prefer waltzing up here in clear view to steal someone's Pokémon?" Jackylin inquired defensively.  
  
"Shut up, and help me find it!" Hyde commanded.  
  
The smoke finally cleared. Most of the crowd had left the area in fright and due to allergic reactions. All that was left were the two cloaked figures and Zoe, who was trying to locate her Bellossom.  
  
"Bellossom!" she called, looking among the plants.  
  
Bill heard her and began drifting off. Suddenly, a warmth spread from where Ziggy slapped him as a reminder of his mission, and he mentally anchored himself again.  
  
"Bellossom!" Zoe called again, though Bill didn't respond only to avoid attracting attention to himself.  
  
"Bellossom!"  
  
Bill turned around to see the Murkrow behind him. It opened its beak again and repeated. Jackylin looked under the table, smiled, and grabbed Bill by the neck, pulling him from his hiding place and holding him in the air. He struggled, but she held tighter.  
  
"Look at what Murkrow found!" she announced gleefully.  
  
"Murkrow!" the bird announced as it hopped onto the table top.  
  
"Thanks!" Zoe smiled as she reached for Bill.  
  
Jackylin pulled away with a devious smirk. She held Bill close in her arms.  
  
"Finders keepers," she said to Zoe.  
  
"But he's mine!" Zoe growled, reaching for him again. "Let him go!"  
  
Jackylin backed away again. "Finders keepers."  
  
In a quick move, Bill sprayed Sleep Powder upward into Jackylin's face and managed to break free. Hyde and Murkrow dove at him but received another faceful of Sleep Powder. He landed gracefully beside his fallen foes and turned around to see the face of his fair lady. She was surprised, but obviously overjoyed.  
  
"You never battled like that before," Zoe commented before picking him up and hugging him. "Thank you!"  
  
{Anything to please you, m'lady,} Bill said with a scarlet face, intending on imitating a knight in shining armor.  
  
"Zoe, sweetie, I've called the police, and they'll be over soon to pick up these hooligans," Mrs. Rosenblum informed her daughter as she leaned out of the opened shop door. "Be a dear and make sure they don't wake up until then."  
  
"Of course, Mamma!" Zoe replied. "Bellossom will help me!"  
  
Bill grinned. He could think of no moment which made him happier. (Well, at least romantically.)  
  
~~~  
  
He stayed in Bellossom until Officer Jenny hauled the Rockets away. After which, he returned to his own body and made his way back to his home, offering no explanation to his family on his sudden, short disappearance other than he had become lost. Jude, however, didn't buy it.  
  
"You have to be an idiot to get lost in Goldenrod for two days," she said to him.  
  
"Oh, leave him alone," Penny argued. "He hasn't been here in a long time, and you know Bill." She leaned in to whisper to her little sister. "He'd get lost in a cardboard box if he didn't have a map."  
  
"I heard that," he sneered.  
  
And at the end of the week, he found himself on the train ride home, but not, of course, before he gathered up a bit of courage to approach Zoe. He thought at first he was going to screw up or even faint, but all went well, concidering.  
  
"Zoe, I was wondering if you would... If you would do me the honor of... you know, getting together sometime and..." He took a deep breath as his face reddened. "Zoe, would you like to go out on a date with me sometime?"  
  
As Bill kicked himself mentally for being so quick and blunt, Zoe paused and giggled.   
  
"Oh, I wish I could," she replied, "but unfortunately, you're a few weeks too late. I already have a boyfriend..."  
  
If Bill were a slightly weaker person, he would have been on the ground, twitching at this point.  
  
"But you're a nice guy, so I hope we can still be friends," Zoe told him gently as she patted him on the shoulder.  
  
And so, Bill sat at the window of the train, drowning in sorrow. Everyone else in the same car, once again, were asleep. Ziggy took the opportunity to appear and cheer Bill up.  
  
"Hey, Cassanova!" she greeted. "I saw what happened with Zoe, and I just have to say, 'Don't worry about her! There's other fish in the fishbowl!'"  
  
Bill sighed. He wasn't in the mood for this.  
  
"Sea, Ziggy," he corrected her. "The saying is, 'There's plenty of other fish in the sea.'"  
  
"Whatever!" Ziggy shrugged. "My point is, you shouldn't go around, feeling sorry for yourself over this one girl! I mean, she's not the only female of the species, right? So what's one little female when you've still got many of other chances with other little females?"  
  
He sighed again. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Ziggy."  
  
"By the way, other than zoning out every five seconds, this shift wasn't too bad," Ziggy commented. "You're still a rookie at this, but hey, someone has to be."  
  
For the first time throughout the conversation, Bill looked at Ziggy and smiled. "Thanks, Ziggy. I'll take that as a compliment."  
  
There was a long period of silence. Bill's gaze turned back toward the window.  
  
"Bill, I just have one last question," Ziggy stated.  
  
"Hmm?" Bill's gaze went from the window to Ziggy's emerald eyes.  
  
"The way that you think about Zoe..." Ziggy paused for emphasis and to think about how to phrase her question.  
  
"What?" Bill cocked his head.  
  
"Would you..." Ziggy pursed her lips for a moment and looked at her lap before going on. "Would you ever think about me the same way?"  
  
There was a silence between the two that felt like hours, though it was at most two minutes.  
  
Ziggy looked back into Bill's deep, brown eyes. He was obviously caught off guard by her.  
  
"Well?" she inquired.  
  
Bill gave her a short smile and looked away again, out the window and at the nighttime scene. "I'll see you at home, Ziggy."  
  
Ziggy looked shocked and hurt. "But you didn't answer--"  
  
"I will someday, Ziggy," Bill cut her off lightly, "but not today."  
  
Ziggy's expression softened. She nodded and disappeared, leaving Bill to think about her question.  
  
'I can't just say no to her,' he thought, 'but saying yes isn't entirely the truth. I mean, she IS an artificial lifeform. I can't love something that isn't real, can I?'  
  
He thought about why she asked it. Immediately, he felt sorry for her for a vague reason.  
  
~~~  
  
It was in the later part of the night when he finally reached home. Gratefully, he pushed opened the door and made his way through the darkness. Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed him.  
  
"Hey! Who's there!? What's going on!?"  
  
The lights came on as he tried to shake off the hands. He found himself surrounded by a circle of Rocket uniforms. Two Rocket agents, Butch and Cassidy, held his arms behind his back.  
  
"What do you want from me?" Bill hissed, still struggling against the Rockets.  
  
Bonnie stepped out of the circle and grabbed Bill's chin, lifting it so that his eyes stared into hers.  
  
"We just want a li'l info, sugar," she told him. "Be a gentleman and tell a lady what she wants, m'kay?"  
  
"I won't tell you anything," Bill replied, wrenching himself away from Bonnie and partially out of the Rockets' grips. "I refuse to help Team Rocket."  
  
Bonnie sneered at him, but he looked away.  
  
"Oh really? Surely you'd help an old friend then..."  
  
Bill's eyes widened upon hearing the familiar voice. He looked up to see the circle break and part for a single man to walk through. Dressed in a similar suit to Giovanni's, long black hair in a ponytail, violet eyes flashing with a cold glance. This Rocket's name was Nathan Lokov, but Bill knew him by another.  
  
"Loki..."*7*  
  
Loki grinned. "I was wondering when we would meet again, Bill."  
  
"Loki, how could you?" Bill managed to whisper.  
  
~~~  
  
To be continued.  
  
***  
  
End episode 4*8*  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: In the Crystal version, a trainer named Pokémaniac Brent sometimes calls you up (after you get his number, of course) and gives you little-known facts about Bill. One of them is that his mother was once a kimono girl. What does this have to do with that dancing school? Well, remember that dance theatre in Ecruteak City? The one with the five kimono girls with Eevee evolutions? I got the idea from that. ^_^  
  
*2*: According to the book 315 Children's Questions and Answers (by Lesley Scott and Brenda Apsley), Ikebana is a form of Japanese flower arranging in which few flowers are actually used among a few twigs and low greenery for a graceful appearance. Each arrangement has a different meaning. This really doesn't have to do with much to the meaning of the story, but it's one of those things that's nice to know, no?  
  
*3*: No, no. Zoe's not named after Zoey, Alia's observer. I told you awhile back, Ziggy's going to be the closest reference I make to Quantum Leap. That is, close enough not to be unoriginal or in a situation where I get my butt kicked by the REAL Leap fans due to a mockery of the show... O_o;  
  
*4*: It's been a week and a half between episodes three and four, in case you haven't noticed. Literally, too. ^_^;  
  
*5*: Ever wonder what's under Bellossom's grass skirt? Well, next time you get high, ponder over that until you come up with an answer and give me a yell, 'kay? =)  
  
*6*: Unless I'm mistaken, Gloom, Vileplume, and Bellossom produce Petal Dance in the anime by spinning. Though he isn't Bellossom physically, I'd think Bill would get a bit dizzy from that because he's not used to doing it, wouldn't you say so? Okay, so why would a smart guy like him do it anyways? Well, wouldn't you for the girl/guy you liked?  
  
*7*: Loki is a Norse trickster god. This makes for pretty damn good foreshadowing, in my opinion. ^_^;  
  
*8*: Yes, I realize that not only is this one of the episodes which has a weaker plot, but it's also the one where Mai-chan tends to drift off from "making any sense whatsoever". Yes, the family thing was to develop backgrounds for two characters -- Bill and Jude. And yes, Jude WILL appear later, and if she doesn't end up in an episode for this "season," expect her next "season." And yes, I'm mentally kicking myself for taking Bill out of character, for the weak plot, and for general amusement. (It's really fun, kicking yourself. You should try it too.) On the other hand, though I tend to ramble, this DID turn out to be a longer episode, seventeen pages of story alone, rather than twelve or thirteen, making up for that measly eleven of last week. Yay! ^_^ *long pause* Er, Mai-chan apologizes for the cliff hanger. She will work on episode five and get it up soon. ^_^; 


	5. Present, Past, and Future Sight

Foreword: Every fifth episode, I'll read the reviews I had gotten for the past five episodes and reply to a few of them. (Only a few, as in those that have something beyond a "I like your fic" or "MY EYES ARE BURNING! TAKE IT DOWN! TAKE IT DOWN!!", though the latter is appreciated as well. ^_^;)   
  
Um... hai. This was inspired by the fanfiction "Card Captor Ashura," though I'm not doing it every episode because you know I use the foreword for other purposes. *coughs*  
  
Anywho, right now, here's my replies to reviews for episodes one to four:  
  
First and foremost, thank you to all those who DID say they like Warp Series. It's your comments that keep it up. ^_^  
  
Secondly, to Light Sneasel: Your bit of information about Quantum Leap (given in the review for episode two) actually cleared something up for me. I thank you. And as for your comment about abusive shifts in your review for episode three, I agree. Let's be thankful I didn't put Bill in a situation such as that, though you DID give me an idea for a future episode... (Oh no. Sadist mode. BE AFRAID!) As for your predictions, well, I can't quite say too much about that, now, can I? ^_-  
  
Well, that's it for this time! If you'd like to see your comment up here, keep commenting and waiting for episode ten! ^_^  
  
***  
Episode 05--  
Present, Past, and Future Sight  
  
A cloaked figure entered an inn. The innkeeper looked up as the figure cleared his throat.  
  
"I'd like a room for the night," the figure said in a smooth voice.  
  
"It costs money," the innkeeper lazily replied.  
  
The figure dropped a few pieces of currency on the counter. The innkeeper's eyes widened at the value.  
  
"We have a room available, sir," the innkeeper told him. "Just sign the book. Do you need any help up?"  
  
The visitor shook his head as he signed the innkeeper's log. He took the key which had been placed on the desk and proceeded upstairs to the lodgings. The innkeeper glanced at the signature, then at the figure's back.  
  
"Strange fellow," the keeper muttered.  
  
~~~  
  
In the privacy of his inn room, the cloaked figure slipped a messenger bag off and pulled from this a laptop computer. He placed this on the desk in the room, opened it, and turned it on. As he waited for the computer to boot up, he slipped the cloak off and placed it on his bed.   
  
A few minutes after the computer booted up, Ziggy appeared on its screen.  
  
"Bill? Where are you?" she inquired, looking around the room.  
  
The figure, whom we now know as Bill, turned back to his companion. "I've escaped to an inn on the outskirts of Celadon. I'll tell you all about what happened while you were offline, starting with when I returned to the lighthouse..."  
  
~~~  
  
"Loki, how could you?" he sneered.*1*  
  
To Loki, there was no moment more delicious than this.  
  
"Isn't this beautiful?" Loki commented. "The one man I hate the most, trapped by my lackeys, about to be tortured just to extract a little information for my superior's use."  
  
"How could you betray me?" Bill snapped. "There was a time when I was the only friend you had!"*2*  
  
"Times change, Bill," Loki replied. "I have new friends now."  
  
"Some friends," Bill scoffed. "The only thing Team Rocket will help you with is to help you get into jail."  
  
"But they're a hell of a lot better in the friend business than you'll ever be, you bastard!" Loki's eyes flashed. "Now, tell us about Warp!"  
  
Bill fell silent in shock. Finally, he managed to speak as he trembled. "Warp?"  
  
"That's right," Loki said, holding up a disc. "Tell us all about shifting. We'd like to hear more about it."  
  
Bill's eyes were glued on the disc. He remained silent, flustered and startled by all of this.  
  
"Speak, dammit!" Butch snapped as he kicked Bill.  
  
"Speak now, or later we'll arrange for you to revisit Tess," Loki told him sharply as he drew a line across his neck with his thumb. "Oh, god knows how much she wants to see YOU again..."  
  
"Don't speak of her!" Bill barked.  
  
Loki laughed and leaned in. "What's the matter, Bill? The name rings a bell to you? It's a shame, though. You never cared about Tess."  
  
"You know damn well I cared about her," Bill growled. "Stop talking about her, Lokov. You don't deserve to waste your breath uttering her name."  
  
"Neither do you, ass hole," Loki snapped. "You were the one who killed her, after all."  
  
Bill's voice decreased in volume but increased in controlled anger. "She chose to end her life. I had nothing to do with that."  
  
"You were the REASON Tess went and committed suicide!" Loki yelled.  
  
"That's not true, and you know it," Bill argued.  
  
Loki opened his mouth to say something more, but an agent cleared her throat.  
  
"Sir, I don't wish to be insolent, but what about our reason for being here?" she asked.  
  
Loki gazed back at the agent and nodded. He stepped forward.  
  
"Tell us about Warp, Bill," he growled.  
  
"You will leave my lighthouse without a shred of information," Bill responded icily.  
  
"Tell us about Warp," Loki repeated.  
  
Bill looked into Loki's eyes with a frigid gaze. "I wasn't requesting you to leave my lighthouse; I was telling you."  
  
Loki stepped forward. "You're a spunky little bastard, you know that, McKenzie? Unfortunately, it's not wise to be spunky when you're outnumbered."  
  
Bill smirked. "You're right. It's wise to be quick!"  
  
With a quick movement, he wrenched his right arm out of Butch's grip, pulled a smoke bomb out of his pocket, and threw it at his feet. Smoke filled the room as he covered his nose and mouth with a handkerchief and pulled himself away from the Rockets, disappearing in the cloud.  
  
When the smoke cleared, he was gone. Loki stood in the middle of the room, snarling in his anger.  
  
"Raid this lighthouse," he ordered. "If you find a Pokémon, pocket it. If you find information, bring it to me. And if you find McKenzie himself, kill him, rip him apart, bring me his head, and throw the rest of him into the sea!"  
  
The agents backed away from their boss, saluted, and retreated to all corners of the building.  
  
~~~  
  
"I escaped through the air ducts, taking with me only some clothing, a bit of money, and a notebook computer to keep in touch with you," Bill explained as he sat at the desk.  
  
"Nice story," Ziggy complimented. "Just one thing's bothering me, though."  
  
"What?" Bill cocked his head.  
  
"If you don't mind me asking, who's Tess?"  
  
There was a long period of silence as Bill's face fell. He looked away for a moment before beginning.  
  
"Tess." Bill sighed. "I can't explain her in words alone. She was an angel. Ten folds better than Zoe..."  
  
He stood up and began to pace. Ziggy sighed, preparing herself for a long story.  
  
"When I was younger, the day I had spoken to you last before we parted for ten years, I had made friends with Loki.*3* For a long time, Loki had been all I had outside of my own blood. And then, when Loki and I attended the academy*4*, we met her..."  
  
~~~  
  
In a hallway lit by the springtime sunlight streaming through the windows, students gathered around a bulletin board on which scores for a recent exam were posted. Boys in the males' standard uniform (white, short-sleeved shirt with the school crest on the left breast and navy pants) pushed through the crowd with excited expressions before pushing back through with disappointed ones. Girls in the females' standard uniform (white, short-sleeved shirt with a vest with the school crest on the left side, short, navy skirt, white socks into brown loafers) gazed at their scores before backing away and chatting about them with other girls.  
  
A single boy, no doubt a younger Bill, leaned against a window sill, alone and waiting for someone. A younger Loki pushed through the crowd, sighed, and dragged himself over to his friend.  
  
"I'm ranked 76th," Loki told him with a sigh.  
  
"Maybe you should try studying next time, Mr. Soccer-is-more-important-than-study-group," Bill told him with a shrug.  
  
"But soccer IS," Loki replied defensively. "By the way, I checked out the other scores. Another top rank. Do you really like to study that much, or are you just doing that to kiss up to the teachers?"  
  
"Hey, if I keep kissing up to the teachers, they'll never suspect that those cute little pranks on our dear headmistress are coming from me," Bill told him with a wink.  
  
"Yeah, I guess. And you know what? You even beat that cute Loveland girl," Loki said with a grin. "Maybe she'll ask you for study tips and find herself inexplicably attracted to the handsome, young athlete friend of the smartest twelve-year-old in Westwood Academy!"  
  
"Right. And maybe my sister, Penny, will be crowned princess of France," Bill added sarcastically.  
  
"Does France even HAVE a princess?" Loki inquired hopefully.  
  
"No."  
  
"Great! Then one quick e-mail to the government of France, and they'll take Penny as their royal princess, and then I'll have a chance with Loveland!" Loki planned.  
  
Bill rolled his eyes, shrugged, and turned before walking down the hall.  
  
"It can happen, right?" Loki asked, walking alongside his friend.  
  
"Maybe if Satan leaves the air conditioner on and freezes Hell over," Bill replied with a shrug.  
  
"Excuse me!" A girl's hand reached out to touch Bill's shoulder.  
  
"Wha--?" Bill turned around abruptly.  
  
There she was. A girl in the standard uniform, just about the same age as both Loki and Bill. Her white-blonde hair fell straight and caressed her shoulders, pulled back slightly by her black headband. Her crystal blue eyes bore into Bill's, sending shivers down his spine as if her gaze were like the ice her eyes resembled. Around her neck was a black ribbon onto which was tied a silver cross. When she spoke again, her voice was childlike, innocent, and airy, almost like wind chimes or that of a faerie.  
  
"Are you the child prodigy from the McKenzie family?" she inquired.  
  
"Why do you want to know?" he replied.  
  
Loki pinched his arm and whispered, "Bill... That's Contessa Loveland! LOVELAND! Introduce me!"  
  
Bill rolled his eyes again and glared at Loki.  
  
"Oh fine! I'll introduce myself!" Loki hissed before smiling sweetly at Contessa. "Hey, Contessa! I'm Nathan Lokov, star of the soccer team, but everyone calls me Loki. I've heard great things about you!"  
  
Contessa ignored him and spoke to Bill again. "You scored the top rank on the latest exam, didn't you? No one had their doubts that you would. Everyone knows that you passed the entrance exam with a perfect score, and anyone who can do that will surely be valedictorian."  
  
"Thank you, but I'm afraid I can't help you study," Bill told her gently.  
  
"Study?" Contessa blinked before shaking her head. "No, no! I don't want you to help me study! I simply wanted to talk to you! By the way, I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is Contessa Loveland, but I prefer to be called Tess."  
  
She held out her hand. Bill gazed at it for a moment before taking it and shaking it.  
  
"William McKenzie," he told her. "Everyone prefers to call me Bill. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintence."  
  
"And Nathan Lokov's pleased to meet you too!" Loki said to Tess again, though she ignored him again.  
  
"Tell me, Bill, were you holding back?" Tess asked.  
  
He cocked his head and let go of her hand. "Holding back? What are you talking about?"  
  
"You don't care, do you?" She smiled.  
  
This began to confuse him. "About what?"  
  
"The exams. Though you scored the top rank, your score wasn't perfect," Tess told him. "I think you could have done better but didn't. Is this true?"  
  
Bill bit his lip. It WAS true, but his reasons for holding back were personal. He took a deep breath, let go of his lip, and turned away from Tess.  
  
"I only display my full potential," he informed her.  
  
"I think you're lying," Tess responded.  
  
"You're a strange girl, you know that?"  
  
"No stranger than you, perhaps."  
  
Bill began walking away.  
  
Tess spoke up again. "Bill, I just wanted to tell you that you're not alone in this world."  
  
He ignored her.  
  
"I was holding back, too."  
  
Bill stopped and turned slightly to stare at her blankly.  
  
"I know what it feels like," Tess told him as she closed her eyes. "I know what it feels like to just have your books. I'm a child prodigy too, and people are intimidated by me. I thought maybe if I held back, people might think that I'm not just a super brain to be afraid of or to hate. You may not know it, but I was nearby when you took your exams. Somehow, I knew you were doing the same."  
  
Bill turned around completely and abruptly to face Tess. The girl opened her eyes and caught his gaze.  
  
"You and I are destined for great things," Tess said. "Can you feel it, Bill?"  
  
He paused, staring into her eyes for what seemed like hours. Finally, he broke away and turned around.  
  
"Come on, Loki. Let's go," he muttered.  
  
Loki handed Tess a piece of paper. "My cell phone number. Give me a ring sometime, okay, baby?"  
  
With a wink, he followed Bill, who had begun walking away. Tess stared at Bill and smiled.  
  
"He knows," she muttered.  
  
~~~  
  
"Okay, so that explains how you KNOW Tess," Ziggy said in the present, "but it still doesn't clear up something..."  
  
Bill, who ended up leaning against the windowsill, stared blankly at the computer image.  
  
"What?" he asked as he cocked his head.  
  
"You said Loki was angry at you because you killed Tess," Ziggy recalled. "No offense or anything, but I don't see you as the murdering type. What did he mean?"  
  
"First of all, no offense taken," Bill replied with a smile. "You're right. I'm not the 'murdering type.' I didn't kill Tess."  
  
"Secondly?"  
  
"Secondly..." Bill looked over his shoulder and out the window. "I might as well clear this up for you. It might be better if I got it off my chest anyways..."  
  
~~~  
  
In the following months, Tess followed Bill around, getting close to him while still remaining enigmatic, as if testing him to see if his intelligence could figure her out. However, the relationship between Loki and Bill was slowly and steadily growing cold. By the following October, Loki barely spoke to his former friend.  
  
The fateful night was cold and clear. It was a Saturday night, so the students were allowed off the academy's campus for a small period of time. It was then when Tess led Bill on that last walk.  
  
It was a bit ironic that Tess had worn black that night. Bill thought nothing of it, for Tess prefered wearing that gothic dress, that heavy, black coat, those black stockings, and those black boots. But the expression on her face should have been his sign. She was grim and distant, more so than usual, and her eyes were fixed on the full harvest moon.  
  
They approached a bridge spanning a wide, swift river. Tess stopped and looked over its side. Bill stood by her side and let loose a single breath, watching as the vapor curled from his mouth upward. He put his hands in his coat pockets and looked at Tess.  
  
"No riddle?" he inquired. "Tess, you haven't said anything since we left. Is there something wrong?"  
  
Tess's gaze softened as she watched the moonlight strike the river.  
  
"You're all I have," she said. "My parents see me as nothing compared to my sister. My friends have abandoned me. All I can think of is a void quickly filling with dark chaos. I feel like the world."  
  
Bill drew a hand out of one of his pockets and let it rest on her shoulder.  
  
"Tess..."  
  
Tess looked at him. "Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if you were gone? If you never existed? Did you ever wonder if anyone would care?"  
  
"Tess, don't think like that," Bill told her in a soft tone. "I would care if you were gone."  
  
"You must be the only person who does," Tess mumbled with a sigh.  
  
She smiled at him before taking off the cross hung on the black ribbon around her neck. She tied it around Bill's and touched the silver. He took the hand that touched the cross and held it.  
  
"Tess, I just want to let you know that..." Bill stopped. He couldn't go on. He let go of her hand and looked over the rail of the bridge.  
  
"Bill, I want you to promise me something," Tess told him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I want you to always remember me." She leaned in and whispered one final thing. "I love you, Bill. I always had."  
  
She pulled away. He looked up and stared into her eyes for one final time. Transfixed, he watched her lean over the side of the bridge. Inch by inch, she leaned forward before she finally flipped over the rail and fell into the bitter cold rush below.  
  
"TESS!" Bill screamed, climbing onto the rail.  
  
"What do you think you're doing, boy!?"  
  
He felt pairs of hands grab him and pull him back. Apparently, a group of citizens of the town nearby had just come onto the bridge, not noticing the black-clad Tess but instead her friend.  
  
"What a foolish thing to do!" a woman in the group scolded. "Thinking of jumping off the bridge like that!"  
  
"You don't understand!" Bill pleaded. "My friend -- she fell over the railing!"  
  
The rest of the night was a blur. People ran up and down the banks of the river, trying to find Tess as police officers kept Bill on shore, asking him question after question until all he wanted to do was to jump off the bridge himself.  
  
They didn't find Tess until morning. By then, her body was cold and filled with water.  
  
~~~  
  
"Some people blamed Tess's death on me, just because of what she had said," Bill explained in the present. "You don't know how many times I had tried to tell everyone that Tess always spoke oddly and that I had nothing to do with her decision. However, I've heard the accusations so many times that I don't even know if what I say is true anymore. I don't know if one of the reasons Tess jumped WAS because of me."  
  
"That's incredibly depressing," Ziggy commented.  
  
Bill sighed.  
  
"So what do you plan on doing now?" Ziggy inquired.  
  
Bill walked forward to the laptop. "I don't know. I at least want to get a good night's rest. Then, I'll try to go back to the lighthouse to see if it's safe. If Team Rocket is still there, I'll try to find some place else safe so I can shift without worry. Until then, I'm begging you, Ziggy, hold my cases. I think that if I don't hear about someone needing me, I won't end up shifting. And of course, now would be the worst time to be caught outside my body."  
  
Ziggy nodded and closed her eyes. "Alright then. Sweet dreams, Bill. Ciao!"  
  
Ziggy had the laptop shut down. Bill smiled, shut the laptop, and slipped it back into his messanger bag. He then slipped off his shoes, flopped onto his back on the bed, paused for a moment, and drew a cross hung on a silver chain out from under his shirt.  
  
It was the same silver cross that Tess had worn on a black ribbon. For fear of losing it, he put it on a chain. And for fear of forgetting her, he constantly wore it when he was awake.  
  
His hands slipped to the back of his neck to undo the clasp. Carefully, he pulled off the chain and placed it and the cross into his bag. He sighed, remaining still on his back for a few moments before closing his eyes.  
  
It had DEFINITELY been a long day...  
  
~~~  
  
He heard her. Singing. A faerie voice singing a familiar song...  
  
"Come give me your softness  
Comfort me through all this madness  
Ooh, don't you know with you  
I'm born again?"*5*  
  
He knew he had shifted, but the thought of finding out what he had shifted into wasn't a thought that had crossed his mind. Instead, he was keen on finding the voice. So, instead of finding out what he was first, he let his instincts take over, forcing him to run on all fours through a forest and to the edge of a crystal lake where the voice had been singing in the meantime. He stopped to hear the end of her song.  
  
"I was half not whole  
In step with none  
Reaching through this world  
In need of one...  
  
"Come show me your kindness  
In your arms, I know I'll find this  
Don't you know with you  
I'm born again?  
  
"Lying safe within your arms  
I'm born again..."  
  
The girl stopped and turned around. Bill couldn't quite see her, as she was framed by the setting sun, but he could make out her silhouette. And she looked like...  
  
{Tess...}  
  
The girl, who had been standing in the middle of the lake, began gliding toward him. Her shape grew nearer and nearer, and she indeed looked to be about the same height and shape as Tess, save for odd butterfly wings on her back.  
  
She reached the sandy shore of the lake before Bill and stood before him, still framed by the setting sun. The hem of her white, elfin dress (one with cloth butterfly wings on the back), oddly enough, was obviously not wet. Perhaps she was a divine creature, specifically, an angel...  
  
{Tess...} Bill's eyes travelled up to see the girl's face.  
  
Though she was as tall as and shaped similar to his deceased friend (and sounded similar to her when she sang), it was obvious she was different. Her hair was raven black, not blonde-white, and instead of a black headband in her hair, a silver ring went around her head and suspended a sapphire on her forehead. Her deep eyes were dark brown, not crystal blue, though the distant, enigmatic emotion was still there.  
  
{I'm sorry...} Bill said to this girl, temporarily forgetting that no human could understand him. {I thought you were someone I knew...}  
  
The girl gave him a sympathetic gaze before speaking with a soft, echoed voice. "Contessa Loveland. You remember her fondly, and your heart feels as if it lacks a piece now that she has passed on to the otherworld.*6* Please don't feel saddened upon her departure. She's happy now."  
  
Bill looked up at this girl abruptly, not knowing what to say or do next. She leaned forward and touched Bill's cheek with one hand.  
  
"How appropriate that you assume the body of the Pokémon god of water," she commented.  
  
And for the first time in the shift, Bill realized which Pokémon he had gone into, and indeed it was the Pokémon god of water, Suicune.  
  
"Of course, I have arranged for that," she told him as she rose and stood before him. "I have been waiting for a long time to meet you, Bill." She paused and smiled. "I find it appropriate that your name means 'determined protector.'"*7*  
  
{Who are you?} Bill inquired, stepping back a bit.  
  
"Forgive me for being so rude as to not give you my name," the girl replied. "I have many names. Lyralina, Chuuko, Aigori, Soarwen... However, you know me most by my modern name, Zero."  
  
{You're Zero?} Bill's eyes widened.  
  
The girl nodded and smiled.  
  
{I'm sorry,} Bill apologized. {I just imagined you as older. You appear to be twelve years old...}  
  
Zero frowned in disappointment. "But I'm fifteen."  
  
{Oh! I'm sorry...} Bill stopped, deciding to quit while he was ahead.  
  
Zero smiled and waved her hand. "I forgive you. It's an honest mistake."  
  
The sun finally set. The stars began to appear softly next to their round, silver queen. Zero sighed, gazing at the moon for a moment.  
  
"The queen... Isn't she beautiful?" she muttered before turning her gaze back on Bill. "But there isn't time to admire Her Highness just yet. We have a lot to discuss, young shifter. Will you walk with me?"  
  
Bill hesitated.  
  
"I have frequently told you in your dreams that the time will soon come when I will answer your questions," Zero told him. "That time is now. Walk with me, and I will tell you all you want to know."  
  
Bill nodded, causing Zero to smile.  
  
"Of course, this will not be a private event between you and me," Zero told him before looking up. "Ziggy Alpha, will you join us?"  
  
To Bill's surprise, Ziggy appeared.  
  
"Ziggy Alpha, present, accounted for, and ready to join in!" Ziggy saluted cheerfully.  
  
Zero smiled and began walking away. Both Ziggy and Bill kept up by her side. The three remained silent for awhile before Zero spoke.  
  
"Bill, I have been watching you for a very long time. Ever since you were only two years of age. Even as a baby, I sensed that your destiny would be great and strange. Intrigued, I kept watching you until you became a shifter. Not wanting to see you in danger, I connected myself to your computer, accessed your Ziggy, and began to speak through her, trying to help you. I believe she has absorbed my desire to protect and help you, has she not?"  
  
Bill looked at Ziggy, who had then turned away and blushed.  
  
"I will tell you now what I am," Zero announced. "I am an omniscient spirit, with knowledge of the past and of the present and an eye opened for the future. Ask me all you want to know."  
  
{Tell me, do you control my shifting?}  
  
Zero grinned softly. "That I do not. You have complete control over when and where you shift. I can only see who desires the help of a guardian angel and whisper their location to you, though you cannot hear me outside of this conversation. Your heart, in all its nobility with all its desire to help those who need it, forces you to shift. When you truly feel you have helped enough, you shift back."  
  
{So there is no conscious way to control this,} Bill stated in disappointment.  
  
"I never said that," Zero replied. "There IS a way. Through meditation and extreme concentration, you will be able to harness your power. After that, you will only shift when you consciously want to or subconsciously feel that you are in grave danger. However, there is no way to control where you go. At least, not yet. Right now, your heart and soul decides that, not your mind.*8* For example, when I called for you, your soul decided to choose the Suicune host I have left open for you. There were other choices for hosts, and yet your soul was attracted to the god of water because it is oriented with the element of water. There's a reason why you live by the sea."  
  
There was a small pause.  
  
{What will happen if I don't finish a mission?}  
  
Zero paused for a moment, her serene expression turning to a saddened one. "There will be a life that will fall into darkness. You will shift back as you normally do, but you will also take a bit of that Pokémon with you. Too much of this will damage you mentally and physically."  
  
Bill opened his mouth to ask another question, but Zero interrupted him.  
  
"The rest you can figure out on your own by now," Zero said. "Either that, or I will tell you more on another night. For now, I must tell you of what is to come before you must leave..."  
  
~~~  
  
Two Houndooms howled for their masters and broke down the door to the inn. They barked over their shoulders, startling the innkeeper, as four Rocket agents, all in black, stormed in.  
  
"Hey, you hooligans! Keep your Pokémon in their PokéBalls!" the innkeeper barked (no pun intended).  
  
The Rockets grabbed the book of signatures on the innkeeper's desk, scanning the list of entries. The innkeeper quickly realized who these four were and backed into a corner.  
  
"Look, I don't want any trouble from Team Rocket," he said. "I don't have any Pokémon, but if you want money, just let me know, and I'll get it for you."  
  
"We don't want your money, old man," a female Rocket told him sharply. "We're just looking for one of your guests."  
  
"He's not in here," a male Rocket muttered.  
  
"How much do you wanna bet the bastard signed with a pseudonym?" the second male Rocket asked.  
  
"So you want the Houndooms to find him for us?" the second female Rocket inquired.  
  
The second male Rocket smirked and nodded.  
  
"Houndoom, go and sniff out our little 'friend'!" the first female Rocket ordered.  
  
Barking up a storm, the fire dogs of darkness bounded up the stairs, sniffed at each door, and knocked one down. The Rockets followed, finding themselves in an empty room where a cloak lay on the bed and a messanger bag sat on the floor. Otherwise, it appeared to be untouched.  
  
"He's not here!" the female Rocket exclaimed with a whining tone.  
  
"He may not be here, but I think we can find what Boss Lokov wants in that messenger bag," the first male Rocket supposed.  
  
"Let's see..." The second male Rocket grabbed the bag and opened it to find the laptop. He pulled it out, not noticing a chain with a cross falling out of the bag as well. "Nice..."  
  
"It should have SOMETHING on it," the first female Rocket figured. "Let's take it back to the boss."  
  
"Good idea," the second male Rocket complimented as he carried the laptop out of the room under an arm.  
  
The Rockets and the Houndooms followed, right out of the inn, past the terrified innkeeper.  
  
~~~  
  
At that moment, Ziggy vanished. Zero looked up.  
  
"I sense that Team Rocket has been close to your true body," Zero told Bill. "But you need not worry. Every time you shift, your body goes into hiding. No one except Ziggy, myself, or a shifter can see it. However..."  
  
She paused as Bill urged her to go on.  
  
"However, I'm afraid they have made off with something of yours," she informed him. "There will be other shifters soon, all of whom will present problems to you. You will have an equal opposite whose face you already know. However, as you are the original shifter, and one pure of heart, no less, you will be at a greater advantage due to time and desire to do good in this world. I have, and will forever have, faith in you, and I know you can overcome any obstacle Destiny has in store for you."  
  
She smiled lightly. "As Contessa once told you, you were destined for great things, and this was never meant to end at just your early success when you were a normal human. Be brave and keep your heart innocent, and your destiny will come."  
  
She leaned over and kissed Bill on his crest before standing back up and backing away.  
  
"Here is where we part," she told him. "Yet, I will not truly leave. I will always be here to aid you when you need it. For now, I say a farewell for you will not see me until I find I need to speak with you like this again. And so, farewell and good luck, Bill. Until we meet again..."  
  
She turned around and walked away for a bit before vanishing. Bill remained alone for awhile before the flash of silver light came again.  
  
~~~  
  
He slowly woke up and looked around. The door was barely on its hinges, but the rest of the room remained untouched. Quickly, he looked down at his possessions. He picked up the cross and chain and held it in his palm for a few moments before picking up his messenger bag to place the chain back inside. It was then he realized that it was lighter than it should be.  
  
He nearly literally tore it open, finding a void inside which had been previously filled by his laptop. His eyes widened before he grabbed the rest of his possessions and rushed out of the room and down the stairs, finding Officer Jenny speaking with the innkeeper.  
  
"Excuse me, sir," Officer Jenny addressed, turning away from the innkeeper and grabbing Bill by the sleeve. "I don't know if you're aware of this, but Team Rocket recently broke into this inn. Is there anything you would like to tell me that could help me catch Team Rocket?"  
  
"Unfortunately, no," Bill replied. "I was asleep at the time."*9*  
  
"It seems that none of the other guests have reported anything about Team Rocket," Officer Jenny told him. "No stolen possessions of any kind, no harrassment, nothing. Is there anything of yours that happens to be missing?"  
  
Bill paused for a long time before answering, "My notebook computer."*10*  
  
~~~  
  
Loki walked into the lab again and approached Dr. Crocus.  
  
"Crocus! Status report!" he demanded.  
  
"Good news and bad news, sir," Dr. Crocus replied. "I'll give you all of the good news first. McKenzie's laptop contains a bit of the Zigurat Alpha program. We've not only been able to copy this program to create our own form of Alpha which we call Oracle, but we've also been able to extort information from her by putting her in sleep mode and hacking into her memory banks. The other good news is that we've successfully created a shifter out of Agent Mondo."*11*  
  
"Well done," Loki commented before frowning. "Now I'd hate to ask, but what would the bad news be?"  
  
Crocus sighed. "Unfortunately, we received the information on controlling shifts a moment too late. We've lost Agent Mondo. Secondly, the Alpha program had crashed before we could get all of the information. It stopped halfway through Alpha's instructions on controlling the shifts, right after a bit about meditation, and when we rebooted the computer, the Alpha program deleted itself from the computer completely."  
  
"If only all bad news were as trivial as that!" Loki laughed. "You have a good amount of information AND a duplication of the Alpha program, so where would the problem be?"  
  
"Sir, I..." Crocus trailed off, flustered.  
  
"We will continue as scheduled," Loki told her. "The point is, Agent Mondo hadn't died from the modification process, and therefore, neither will I."  
  
"But sir--!" Crocus began.  
  
"We will continue as scheduled," Loki repeated sharply.  
  
"Yes, sir," Crocus finally muttered.  
  
"Good!" Loki smiled at her, nodded, and walked away, happier than he had been within the last few weeks.  
  
All was going according to plan.  
  
~~~  
  
End episode 5*12*  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: Flashback mode, if you haven't noticed. Let's get the Drew Carey Flashback Girl (from the improv episode involving the guy from Cheers and the Blue Man Group) in here! (By the way, she DOES kinda look like Ziggy, only with a different hair color and slightly different clothing. ^_-)  
  
*2*: I just want to establish the fact that I had this planned even before the first episode was published. It's either that (a) Light Sneasel is a freaking psychic, or (b) I've made it REALLY, really obvious. ^_^; Either way, good job, Light Sneasel! =D  
  
*3*: Loki was the other boy at the very beginning of the first episode. Now you know why I had you remember him. ^_-  
  
*4*: Bill's refering to Westwood Academy (yes, named after Professor Westwood from "The Solution to Evolution"), another creation of mine. Supposedly, it's a private school in Johto for children wishing to go into some sort of occupational field having to do with Pokémon. Because, according to my fanworks (meaning this may not be real), he attended "the academy" AFTER his Pokémon journey, he had gained that interest in Pokémon (Read Masaki's character page on Ryoshuu [e-mail me for the URL] to understand this part. I'm not bothering here) and wound up there. Loki, who had gotten back in touch with him by this time, decided to attend the same school as his former friend, despite the fact that Bill was put in a much advanced grade that he was. And where does all of this come from? Unwritten fanfiction, unfortunately. ^_^;  
  
*5*: These are some of the lyrics to "With You, I'm Born Again" by Billy Preston and Syreeta. (Only slightly modified so that this girl won't sing "Woman, don't you know with you I'm born again?" because she's straight. I have nothing against homosexuals/bisexuals; it's just a fact that this girl is straight. =/) It's an incredible song; I love it so much, though I'm aware that it really doesn't fit here. Unless you think it's false foreshadowing because Bill thinks this girl is Tess ressurected, at which point I'll have to say it's okay then. ^_^;  
  
*6*: The otherworld is, in Celtic mythology, a world where one goes after they die to be revitalized before being reincarnated.  
  
*7*: Actually, it is. William, according to a friend of mine (Mel-Mel) and Webster's (the dictionary, people), either means "determined protector" or "helmet." And yeah, I know. Helmet. And "kabuto" means "helmet" in Japanese. Yes people, there IS a connection! ...Unless Masaki-sama received his dubbed name AFTER "Masaki no Toudai" aired in Japan. Then it would be a weird coincidence... or the reason why the dubbers decided to curse Masaki-sama with the common name of Bill... =/  
  
*8*: This might cause big confusion. Here, I concider the soul and the mind to be two separate things. In this work, the soul is not like a big ghosty spirit or something (as some concider it to be); it would be related to the heart and emotion, personality, subconsciousness, etc. The mind, however, would probably identify with that big ghosty thing if it ever took form. In other words, this would be the knowledge, identity, and consciousness of a person. Of course, I'm partially making this stuff up because it's nighttime once again, and I really don't feel like pulling out my books to verify all of this. -_-  
  
*9*: This is partially true, remember? Just remember, kids, it's a REALLY STUPID idea to lie to cops!  
  
*10*: Another name for a laptop, if you don't know. I dunno. I just can't see Bill saying "laptop." To me, that's an American thing someone British just wouldn't say. (Just like "french fries" are American, but "chips" are British.) Then again, there's a lot of things I've already written about that I just can't see Bill doing/saying, but that's another story. ^_^;  
  
*11*: Refers to Mondo/Mundo, Musashi and Kojirou's little helper from the Roketto Dan drama CD's. For those of you who don't know, Mondo (as I prefer to call him) helps Musashi and Kojirou by helping them get back on their feet after blasting off, repairing the Nyassu balloon and other modes of Roketto transportation, and offering moral support, especially to Musashi. *wink, wink* (He's also a big fan of Nyassu and once traded his Metamon for our favorite scratchcat Pokémon.) Anyways, I happen to like Mondo (He's one of my favorite Rokettos, right under Sakaki, Kojirou, and Yamato.), so I couldn't help but include him here. Besides, I couldn't come up with a singular Rocket that had a punny name without ending up with a duo. O_o;  
  
*12*: I know it was a semi-quickie that technically doesn't fit in with the normal flow of things (Bill doesn't go off and shift into a Pokémon to help someone; he shifts to listen to someone.), but hey, it answered a heck of a lotta questions. (That and it let me use Tess. I've been DYING to use that character somewhere... Hmm... Maybe she'll turn up later in Warp Series...) And by the way, the character of Zero is in reference to something specific. A nice, big bag of cyber Halloween candy goes to anyone who can correctly guess what, and a sum of Pokédollars on top of that to Light Sneasel if HE'S the person to get it. (Why money to only him? Because I'd be so amazed with the fact that he's basically figured out 55% of the story that I'd start paying him for anything further. ^_^;) And of course, I'm not telling right now. Hey, I still have to have a FEW mysteries in the story. After all, Quantum Leap was never completely figured out either. =/ (And by the way, yes, this chapter makes Warp Series VERY different from Quantum Leap, but didn't I tell you to expect that in the first episode? ^_-) 


	6. In the Doghouse

Foreword: Wow! The sixth episode! Be happy; I usually don't make it past the fourth. So what has motivated me to keep writing Warp Series? Viewing tons of Quantum Leap websites and listening to "St. Elmo's Fire" by John Parr for umpteen times. (What? You think I'm kidding? Shame on you!)  
  
I've also changed Warp Series'(s?) genre to Sci-fi/Fantasy. Why fantasy? Because it has that sort of air to it, and it'll just keep adding on to that as the series goes on, trust me. (Of course, my plans could always get a bit quirky, and this could just be a regular Sci-fi/General thing, depending on whether or not I really want to play with Zero's character that much... =/)  
  
Anywho, on with the show!  
  
***  
Episode 06--  
In the Doghouse  
  
Bill had rushed back to the lighthouse as fast as he could, disregarding any thought that Team Rocket might be waiting for him. He didn't care. He needed to know if Ziggy were alright. After all, the Rockets HAD stolen a part of her.  
  
He passed trees, darted through the darkness, and made his way up to his lighthouse.  
  
It was empty. Unnervingly empty.  
  
He entered through the opened door and looked around with a sunken heart. The state of the lighthouse reminded him of what it looked like when he found it. Completely trashed. He traveled from room to room, surveying the damage. Papers and wood of unknown origin strewed floors in one room; books and pages of books littered another, and his bedroom was basically unrecognizable.  
  
He descended into the cellar, and his heart fell further. Papers, broken devices, books, and pieces of broken PokéBalls were everywhere, not to mention those PokéBalls that were empty and survived. All of his computer discs were taken. It seemed as if the only thing which had remained untouched was the computer itself.  
  
Quickly, he turned on the computer and, as he waited for it to boot up, began to clean everything up. Finally, as the computer was ready for operation, Ziggy appeared.  
  
"Oh, god, Bill! It was horrible!" Ziggy cried. "Rockets! All of them in the cellar! Oh, god! And then, when they stole your laptop, they took me into a lab, put me to sleep, and hacked into my memory banks!*1* And before they did that, they were telling me all sort of things! Everything from threats to saying that you were in danger!" She literally burst into tears. "I managed to crash the computer and delete myself from it, but... It was horrible!"  
  
"It's alright now, Ziggy," he assured her. "Now that I've learned the secret to controlling shifts, I'll be able to keep myself in my body long enough to think of a way to protect the both of us and everything else in the lighthouse." He sighed. "This might be a bit hard to do, as all of my Pokémon have been stolen..."  
  
He paced. "I need to figure out a way to protect the lighthouse from any type of Pokémon or mechanical device Team Rocket might have..."  
  
"Um... You DID do the meditations, right?" Ziggy asked, wiping her eyes.  
  
Bill paused and sighed. "Not quite. I suppose you have a point there. I could shift any minute now." He looked around. "There really isn't anything they want here that they want anymore."  
  
"I'm shutting down," Ziggy told him. Her voice was obviously a bit shaky. "Go upstairs and meditate until you've got this under control."  
  
He nodded. "Thanks, Ziggy."  
  
She smiled weakly. "No problem. Ciao!"  
  
The computer screen went black.  
  
~~~  
  
He had picked things up along the way, placing broken things in a trash bag he carried with him and putting the salvageable items and unbroken items away. He finally reached his bedroom, cleared a space on his bed, and sat in the space, crossing his legs in a sort of lotus position and closing his eyes.  
  
That was an hour ago.  
  
He sighed and opened his eyes.  
  
'How would I know if this worked?' he asked himself.  
  
He closed his eyes again. A cold feeling came over his heart. It felt as if something were trying to break out of him, but his concentration kept it inside. The struggle inside him continued for twenty minutes before it died down. He opened his eyes and found himself once again in his room, only unusually exhausted. He fell back and stretched out, lying on his bed on his back as he breathed heavily and clutched the part of his shirt which covered his chest.  
  
"Oh god..." He gasped. "That had to have been an attempt at a shift."  
  
His eyes opened at the realization. It WAS a shift, but he resisted. And there he was again, still in his human body. He sat up.   
  
"I did it..." He smiled. "I did it! I can control my shifts!"  
  
He leaped off the bed and stormed out of his room and down into the cellar. He booted up his computer and waited in pure excitement. Ziggy appeared with a yawn.  
  
"What?" she asked, dryly. "I was enjoying that nap."  
  
"I did it, Ziggy!" he told her, just barely controlling his enthusiasm. "I can control my shifts!"  
  
Ziggy yawned and raised an eyebrow. "That's great, Bill, but now you have to concentrate and shift out."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because that shift you just skipped, someone's going to be in deep trouble unless you get over there and help them. And I mean deep."  
  
Bill sighed. "NOW you tell me..."  
  
He closed his eyes and concentrated. Soon, he felt as if he were pushing out of his own body and as if a rush of cold water began to engulf him.  
  
The spark of light disappeared into the ceiling.  
  
~~~  
  
Bill opened his eyes and found himself in a sort of living room... with a slipper in his mouth.  
  
A little boy's voice shrieked. "Spot! Get off! Let go! Spit it out before Mom catches you!"  
  
A bit confused, Bill figured he was Spot and promptly spit out the slipper. (He didn't like the taste of it, anyways.) Unfortunately, it was a moment too late.  
  
"Spot! Bad dog!" a woman's voice scolded.  
  
A broom came down in front of him. He panicked and ran, allowing his instincts to take him through a doggy door and into a fenced-in backyard. He stopped on the porch and sat down like an animal would.  
  
{What's going on?} he asked himself.  
  
He looked around the yard. Picked fence all the way around with houses rising up beyond each side, tree growing in the middle of the green landscape, wooden picnic table, and a small kiddie pool nearby on the porch. He stood and crawled to this tiny, plastic pool to look at his reflection in the water that remained inside.  
  
A Growlithe stared back.*2*  
  
{Okay, so this explains why I was called a dog,} Bill muttered, {but it doesn't explain much else... including why this Growlithe might be called Spot, though I'm sure that's something I really don't want to know about...} He coughed slightly out of embarrassment before looking toward the sky. {Ziggy?}  
  
Ziggy appeared, hovering in midair behind him as she sat with her legs crossed.  
  
"Ziggy Alpha, present and accounted for!" she announced.  
  
{Ziggy, I need a briefing,} Bill told her as he turned to face her.  
  
"So what else is new?" She sighed and put her hands on her hips. "You make me feel so useless! All I do is give you a briefing!"  
  
Bill groaned. {Ziggy, not now...}  
  
"Very rarely do I do anything else important!"  
  
{Ziggy...?}  
  
"I mean, isn't there anything else I can do?"  
  
{Ziggy?}  
  
"You know, help you solve a problem? Take care of some of the exciting parts of the shift? Distract the cute men nearby...?"  
  
{Ziggy!!}  
  
"What?"  
  
{The briefing?}  
  
Ziggy sighed. "Okay, this time around, it's an odd shift. See, you're not here to help a human. That body you're in? It's a trouble-making Growlithe. Now here's the catch -- because it's so disobedient, the parents of your host's owner are planning to administer a test. If 'Spot' behaves for two days, Spot gets to stay in this house and grow up with his owner, soon helping him to become the number one Pokémon master. If Spot misbehaves, then Spot is put into a pound and is soon put to sleep, and his owner will be a thirty-year-old man living with his parents and working at a dead-end job, eventually overdosing on sleeping pills."  
  
{Zero didn't say that last part, did she?}  
  
There was a short period of silence.  
  
"Okay, so she didn't say the part about the sleeping pills or Spot's owner living with his parents, but you get the idea!"  
  
Bill narrowed his eyes. {Right.}  
  
"Oh, by the way, if you're wondering why your host is called Spot even though there's not a single spot on him, it's because he left a spot on the rug the day he was brought home."  
  
{Okay, I never asked to know that.}  
  
"I know. I just wanted to see your reaction when you found out that your host isn't housebroken."*3*  
  
Bill paused. {Wait a minute! Not housebroken? At all!?}  
  
Ziggy giggled and disappeared, leaving Bill to glance down at his paws.  
  
{Oh, this is less than dignified...}  
  
~~~  
  
{Alright, Bill, best behavior,} Bill reminded himself as he reentered the house.  
  
Cautiously, he walked through the kitchen where the backdoor was. He sniffed the air to get a good idea of his surroundings and continued through, stopping and cringing when a woman (the same one with the broom before) walked past.  
  
"Hey! Don't you stop in my kitchen!" she scolded, pushing him away with her foot. "I don't want a dirty little dog like you sticking around! Shoo! Oh, why couldn't Max have wanted a Meowth or a Skitty...?"*4*  
  
Bill stumbled out of the kitchen.  
  
{Now I know what Milo feels like,} he muttered to himself.  
  
He found a spot on the rug in the living room and curled up on it. He sighed.  
  
{If that was the mother of the household, this will be some two days...}  
  
A man in a suit and briefcase walked through the door with a smile on his face.  
  
"Ah... It's good to be home!" he said to himself.  
  
Bill looked up. He had the sudden urge, supposedly thanks to Spot, to jump up and attempt to knock down this man, all to lick his face.  
  
{Best behavior,} he reminded himself as he rested his head on his front paws again.  
  
"Well, someone's acting different today," the man observed as he bent down and rubbed Bill's head vigorously.  
  
The man stood up as his wife came into the living room, both not noticing Bill hide his head under his front paws. The couple kissed and warmly greeted each other, just as the wife noticed the family dog on the rug.  
  
"Oh! Get off!" The woman shooed Bill away again. "Go to the backyard! You're filthy, and you're lying on my nice, clean rug!"  
  
Bill sighed, got up, and sauntered away.  
  
"Marion, you shouldn't be so hard on Spot," the man told her. "He's only a pup."  
  
"A pup we've had for a year and a half," Marion added. "He should know the rules by now!"  
  
{I've only been in this body for a half an hour,} Bill muttered dryly, half to himself, knowing that Marion wouldn't understand him. {Give me a break.}  
  
He pushed through the doggy door and went over to sit under the tree.  
  
~~~  
  
That night was spent in a dog house on the side of the house. Marion wouldn't let Bill back inside.  
  
{And she wonders why I'm dirty,} Bill sighed. {I feel sorry for Spot, having to live this way for a year and a half...}  
  
"Awww... Got into trouble lately? You must have been because you're in the doghouse now!"  
  
Ziggy laughed at her own pun.  
  
{Good evening, Ziggy,} Bill greeted wryly. {What brings you here to make an ironic joke such as that?}  
  
Ziggy appeared, sitting on the left side of the roof on the doghouse with her eyes closed.  
  
"I've decided to be a little more useful," she told him. "So, I came here to keep you company and give you words of encouragement."  
  
{I need to get to sleep, and I'm afraid to hear the words of encouragement.}  
  
"SOMEONE'S in a bad mood tonight... And this is coming from a guy who was up at four in the morning when he turned into a shifter."  
  
{First off, it was three thirty,} Bill replied defensively. {Secondly, it's that woman! During dinner, I found out that my host's owner, who is called Max, had gotten Spot from a pound. However, Max's mother, Marion, thinks all animals from the pound are dirty and don't belong in the home, AND worst of all, she hates dogs to begin with! Her attitude alone is making me feel depressed! No wonder Spot misbehaves so often!}  
  
"Well, ignore her. And chin up! There's only one more day to go until the end of the test!"  
  
{One? I thought you said this was going to be a two-day test.}  
  
"It is. It started today."  
  
Bill groaned. {Unless I can find a way to convince Marion that there's no reason to hate Spot, I think my host is doomed.}  
  
"Well, Bill, if you convince Marion that dogs are alright, I'd be impressed."  
  
{Really? Why?}  
  
Ziggy opened one eye. "Because Marion can be angry at someone or something for a long time, and after what Spot did on her carpet the day he entered her house, Marion got pretty pissed off..."  
  
{What Spot did on...?} Bill's voice trailed off as he realized what she was talking about. {You won't let that go, will you?}  
  
"Nope! And I still haven't forgotten your little escapade in Chansey," Ziggy said with a grin.  
  
Bill rolled his eyes and sighed. {Good night, Ziggy.}  
  
"Hey! Wait! Aren't you going to talk for a bit longer?"  
  
Bill rested his head on his front paws and replied with a firm tone, {Good night, Ziggy.}  
  
"Oh, you're no fun!" Ziggy pouted as she disappeared.  
  
~~~  
  
Dr. Crocus rushed into the lab, looked around, and spotted a blond-haired, dark-eyed assistant in a lab coat. She rushed to him and grabbed him by the sleeve.  
  
"Chester!*5* Just the man I wanted to see!" she said with a relieved sigh.  
  
He turned toward her. "Good evening, Dr. Crocus."  
  
"Chester, have you gotten a lock on Agent Mondo?" Crocus asked urgently.  
  
"I'm sorry, doctor. He's gone."  
  
"What about the preparations for Boss Lokov's modification?"  
  
"We've managed to tone down the Time Capsule to give Boss Lokov a smaller dose of the rays described in the document and observed in the experiment with Agent Mondo. This smaller dose might keep Agent Mondo's situation from repeating."  
  
"I don't like the sound of that 'might.'"  
  
"I'm sorry, doctor. It's all I can give you at this moment."  
  
Crocus turned to a computer with a stern glance. "What about the Oracle Program?"  
  
"Finished, doctor," Chester replied. "Would you like me to boot it up to give you a demonstration?"  
  
Crocus looked at him and nodded. "Yes. I would like to see Oracle up close before we put it to work."  
  
"Her, Dr. Crocus. The Oracle Program possesses feminine characteristics like that of Zigurat Alpha. Therefore, 'it' thinks it's a woman," Chester told Crocus as he pushed a few buttons on the computer keyboard. "Doctor, I'd like for you to meet... Oracle!"  
  
Chester and Crocus turned around to see a hologram flickering behind them. Its form became clearer in the matter of seconds, revealing a girl in her late teens with long, straight, white hair and her head down, wearing a black cape, a black, sleeveless midriff with matching black mini-skirt and black, knee-high boots. A gold belt with a black-jeweled belt buckle went around her waist, matching the gold choker with the single, black stone (around which the slender strings for her cape were tied) that was around her pale neck and the gold (with similar black stone) cuffs on both of her wrists. She lifted her head and opened her dark, flashing, amthyst-colored eyes.  
  
"My name is Oracle," she said in her hollow, cold voice. "I was programmed by the computer specialists of Team Rocket to serve the shifters of Project Antiwarp. It is my duty to provide information, guidance, and aide when needed. Good evening, programmers. How may I serve you tonight?"  
  
Crocus smiled. "Twice as better as that Alpha character. Good job!"  
  
"I thank you for the compliment," Oracle said with a bow. "I will do anything in my power to please my masters."*6*  
  
"Boss Lokov will be pleased," Chester and Crocus said to each other in unison as they grinned.  
  
~~~  
  
The sun's rays played across the Growlithe's muzzle. He opened his eyes and, for a brief moment, forgot what he was doing outside. He blinked and remembered his mission.  
  
{Day two in the life of the average house Growlithe,} Bill muttered to himself.  
  
He got up, yawned, and stretched. With a shiver, he walked over to the back porch.  
  
"Spot!" Max called. "Breakfast time!"  
  
Bill yawned again. {Well, let's see what today has in store for me...}  
  
Cautiously, he pushed through the doggy door to find a pair of dog bowls inside. The one on the right was filled with water; the one on the left had a mound of moist, brown chunks.  
  
'I've always served this to Milo when I lived in Goldenrod,' he thought, 'but never had the idea of eating it crossed my mind...'  
  
He sniffed at the mound and, attempting to look as much like a dog as he could, picked a chunk up with his mouth and began to chew on it. Perhaps it was just his Growlithe self, but it didn't taste too bad...  
  
There was a table in the kitchen, and at this table sat Max and Max's father. Max took in a bit of cereal as his father read the newspaper.  
  
"Daddy, is Spot broken?" Max finally asked.  
  
"Of course not, son," his father replied as he turned a page in the newspaper. "Why do you ask?"  
  
"Because I heard Mommy talking on the phone with the vet," Max replied. "She said something about getting Spot fixed."  
  
Bill's eyes widened as he sat stiffly and as straight as possible.   
  
{WHAT!?} He paused and shuddered. {I hope she's not planning on doing that today...}  
  
~~~  
  
At noon, Marion took Bill to the vet. Let's just say that it was a less-than-pleasant experience.  
  
When Marion and our poor shifter/pup returned, Bill retreated to the doghouse where he curled up inside and shivered. Ziggy appeared and began cracking up.  
  
"Oh, my poor little shifter!"*7*  
  
Bill groaned. {Ziggy, I forbid you from saying a single bloody word.}  
  
"And nice job at nearly biting the hand off of the vet," Ziggy commented with sarcasm as she ignored Bill's command. "You're really scoring some points with Marion."  
  
{It was self defense!} Bill defended as he peered out of the doghouse. {I would have done it again if he went... you know...}  
  
"So, let's see... You were forced to sleep in a doghouse, and your host was neutered while you remained trapped inside.*8* I wonder what other hilarious little experiences this shift will bring you!"  
  
{That isn't funny!}  
  
"That's weird. I thought it was."  
  
There was a short period of silence.  
  
{I feel so violated.}  
  
Ziggy burst out laughing so hard she had to lean against the doghouse to support herself.  
  
{Why are you here!?} Bill narrowed his eyes at her.  
  
"Are you kidding!?" Ziggy asked through gasps for breath. "You don't actually think I'd let this pass up without my usual comments, did you!?"  
  
Ziggy continued to laugh as Bill groaned, shuddered, and retreated back into the doghouse.  
  
{Thanks for the moral support, Ziggy.}  
  
"No problem!"   
  
Ziggy turned so that she was in front of the opening to the doghouse. She then dropped down, first to her knees, then slowly until she was on her stomach so that she looked into the doghouse and stared straight at Bill.  
  
"But seriously, you're only three-fourths of the way till you can go home," Ziggy told him. "You just need to impress Marion somehow."  
  
Bill sighed. {I get the feeling that this will be the first shift I fail.}  
  
"No way!" Ziggy replied as she balled her hand up into the fist and hit the ground. "I'm POSITIVE you'll finish this alright! I have confidence in you! After all, I never poke fun at your performance, only your form because, you have to admit, the Pokémon you get stuck in are hilarious one way or another."  
  
Bill smiled weakly. {Thanks, Ziggy. But I don't know. I've been on my best behavior, and there's not really too much I can do to impress Marion without inadvertently provoking her in the process.}  
  
"Have patience." Ziggy reached over to pat him on the shoulder, ignoring the fact that her hand was partially going through him. "Zero says something's coming tonight that might work in your favor."  
  
Bill perked up slightly. {Thanks, Ziggy.}  
  
She shrugged. "No problem!"  
  
With that, she disappeared.  
  
~~~  
  
It was late afternoon. With much persuasion, Max had convinced his parents to watch the sunset with him in the park. Of course, the family dog was permitted to go as well.  
  
"Hold still, Spot!" Max muttered as he tried to put a collar on Bill. "The dog catcher takes any dog Pokémon that doesn't have the right tags on them!"  
  
Bill stiffened, allowing Max to snap a dog collar around his neck. The dog tags jingled lightly as he moved, following Max around the house. Max, on the other hand, hopped around, grabbing various things, such as a hat, a leash, et cetera.  
  
Finally, Max went outside, followed by Bill, who submissively permitted Max to put a leash on him as well. Marion and Max's father soon joined their son and their dog outside and continued to walk down the town streets. Every so often, the small family would stop and say hello to a neighbor, leaving Max to wonder whether or not they'd actually get to the park.  
  
The sky was rose-pink when the family reached the park. Max held on to Bill's leash and continued to walk him about the park as Marion and her husband sat on a bench to watch.  
  
Max unclipped the leash.   
  
"Don't go too far, Spot," he warned as he put part of the leash in the pocket and went off among the bushes.  
  
Bill cocked his head for a moment and followed. Max looked up for a bit but continued to make his way through the bushes.  
  
"You want to come with me, Spot?" Max inquired.  
  
Bill nodded.  
  
Max smiled. "I'm looking for buried treasure. I hid it last week. I'm not allowed to come here by myself, and all of my friends couldn't come out and play in the park with me now, so I got Mommy and Daddy to come instead."  
  
Max hunted through the bushes, pushing aside twigs, branches, and leaves, and occassionally getting pricked with thorns. At this point, Bill wished he knew exactly what Max was looking for so the both of them could make their way back through the bushes and onto the open pathway beside them. It was one of those moments when Bill got that odd feeling that something was going to happen and that this something wasn't good.  
  
At that moment, Max stepped on something. A Weedle shrieked in pain under the weight of the boy. Suddenly, a swarm of Beedrill rose from the bushes, every bug eye flashing.  
  
{Now would be a good time to run!} Bill said as he nudged Max.  
  
Max cried out and made his way through the bushes with Bill following close behind.  
  
It took a few moments, but soon, both Max and Bill stumbled out onto the pathway.  
  
"Mommy! Daddy!" Max cried.  
  
"Max?" Marion looked away from her husband and at her son. She screamed when she saw the swarm of Beedrills following him.  
  
"Run!" Max's father yelled, pulling Marion off the bench and into a run.  
  
Marion took her son and her husband by the hands, and the four (family dog included) ran as fast as they could toward the park entrance. However, the Beedrills were not far behind and getting closer. Especially when Max tripped and fell, slowing the party down.  
  
Bill turned toward the Beedrills, all of whom were closing in on the four. The shifter knew there was no point in running, but what could he do to protect the--  
  
It finally dawned on him that he was stuck inside a fire Pokémon... and fire Pokémon had the advantage over bugs.  
  
{Let's hope Spot knows a fire attack,} Bill muttered to himself as he stepped forward and prepared to attack.  
  
"Spot?"  
  
The family watched with hope as their Growlithe closed his eyes for a moment, reopened them, and opened his mouth, allowing a stream of fire to erupt from it.  
  
The first five Beedrills were caught in the flames and fell to the ground. The others hesitated, picked up their injured, and flew away in terror.  
  
Bill stood there, stunned. He had expected A fire attack, not THE fire attack.  
  
{Where on earth did a young Pokémon learn Flamethrower...?}  
  
He didn't even realize that he had been picked up by Max's father and carried home.  
  
~~~  
  
"So, what do you think, Marion?" Max's father inquired.  
  
She smiled.  
  
Night had fallen, and Max had gone to bed. Meanwhile, Marion and her husband stood in the living room, Marion in her husband's arms in such a way that her back was up against his chest and his arms went around her stomach. Neither of them realized that Bill hid near the threshold between the kitchen and the living room, eavesdropping on their conversation.  
  
"Well?" the husband asked.  
  
"Well, what?" Marion responded.  
  
"This is the second day in our two-day test. Did Spot pass?"  
  
Marion paused for a moment and spoke. "Though early yesterday, he was rowdy and wild, and what he did to poor Dr. Finn*9* this afternoon was uncalled for, I'll never forget how he saved us from those Beedrills tonight. I guess we can train him to act properly, and he can be useful around the house. He can stay."  
  
Bill grinned.  
  
"Max will love that," Marion's husband muttered as he kissed her on the head.  
  
Bill took one last look at the couple before exiting through the doggy door in the back door. He walked to the middle of the back yard, turned around, and looked back at the house one last time.  
  
{Well, Spot, take good care of Max...}  
  
He closed his eyes and prepared to shift. However, he was interrupted by a scream. He looked up into a tree and saw a Pidgey swoop down and look him in the eyes with a frantic look.  
  
{McKenzie,} it said with a hoarse voice. {Please, wait and listen to me! I don't have much time!}  
  
{What...?} Bill backed away slightly. {H-how did you...?}  
  
{It's not important right now!} the Pidgey cried. {My name is Agent Mondo. I was part of an experiment with Team Rocket called Project Antiwarp. It was supposed to duplicate your Project Warp, but something went wrong. Now, I shift randomly, and I can't go back. But...} Mondo stepped closer, making Bill uncomfortable. {Boss Lokov is planning to use himself in the experiment. They've been collecting data from you, and they now know at least three-fourths of what you know. This is a warning, Dr. McKenzie. I'm not exactly sure what they're going to do with Project Antiwarp, but I know this -- you WILL be in danger. Hopefully, you can do something before my superior goes overboard with this...}  
  
{Why are you telling me all of this?} Bill asked with a shred of cynicism.  
  
Mondo paused. {I was hoping... That maybe if I told you, you can help me get b--}  
  
Mondo stopped short and screamed.  
  
{Oh god, no! Not again!} he cried.  
  
A dull, blue light surrounded Mondo grouped up above his head, and disappeared into the sky. The Pidgey slumped forward for a moment before waking up, getting up, and flying away. Bill remained standing in the yard, horrified and sympathetic toward Mondo.  
  
{He wanted my help...} Bill closed his eyes. {Someday, I'll find you again, Agent Mondo. I'll thank you by returning you to your body. But for now...}  
  
He concentrated and shifted out of Spot.  
  
~~~  
  
He remained still for a moment.  
  
"Hello? You're not dead, are you?"  
  
Bill opened his eyes. "What?"  
  
"What's wrong with you?" Ziggy inquired.  
  
Bill sat up. "Nothing. I was just thinking..."  
  
"So what else is new?" Ziggy rolled her eyes. "Well, then, pig for your thoughts?"  
  
"What?" Bill looked at her blankly.  
  
"You know, that human saying when you ask someone what they're thinking about," Ziggy explained. "'Pig for your thoughts?'"  
  
"Penny, Ziggy. The phrase is, 'Penny for your thoughts.'"  
  
"Whatever."  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"Well?" Ziggy closed her eyes halfway. "Are you going to tell me?"  
  
Bill paused for a moment before replying, "I was just thinking about what Zero said... about the other shifters."  
  
"Sorry, I wasn't there for that."  
  
"Ah! So you weren't."  
  
"So what did Zero say?"  
  
Bill took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Zero says that there will be other shifters soon. Shifters that will cause trouble for me. Then, there was a Pidgey who came to me just before I shifted, telling me that this is true and that I will not only be in trouble... but I'll also be in danger."  
  
"Well, I wouldn't worry TOO much about it," Ziggy told him. "I'm sure you'll pull through."  
  
"I only hope you're right," Bill responded with a sigh. "Well, good night, Ziggy."  
  
Ziggy smiled and nodded. "Ciao, Bill."  
  
The screen went blank. Bill stood and sighed once more before ascending toward his bedroom for a good night's rest.  
  
"I hope you're right, Ziggy..."  
  
~~~  
  
In the lab, Loki watched the scientists make the final preparations for his modification process. Finally, Crocus approached him.  
  
"Sir, are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.  
  
"What kind of stupid question is that?" Loki hissed. "Is everything ready, Crocus?"  
  
She hesitated for a moment before replying, "Yes, sir."  
  
Loki smiled like the Cheshire Cat before approaching the Time Capsule.  
  
"Sir, I must warn you, there may be unpredictable side effects!" Crocus warned.  
  
"Like I care," Loki responded as he stepped inside. "Initiate!"  
  
"Chester, please, don't!" Crocus begged.  
  
"Sorry, doctor, but his word overrides yours," Chester told her as he pressed the button to start the machine.  
  
Light bathed Loki. He stood there, as if it were water and as if he were in a shower. Finally, he began to laugh maniacally, just before he vanished.  
  
His laughter echoed in the lab before fading away.  
  
~~~  
  
End episode 6*10*  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: If you want to know how Ziggy can be on two computers at once and come back to tell Bill all about what happened in the other computer (and I'm sure you REALLY want to know *sarcasm ends here*), it's simple. Ziggy is activated anytime someone calls her, no matter where she is. So, just like how she can transfer her hologram to wherever Bill may be, she can transfer herself to whichever computer she chooses. When Dr. Crocus called for her using Bill's laptop in the fifth episode, Ziggy chose to appear in the other computer right when she had disappeared to see what was going on.  
  
*2*: Originally, the title of this episode was "St. Elmo's Fire" (after the song), and the Growlithe was supposed to be named St. Elmo. (Get it? Growlithe's a FIRE type? "St. Elmo's FIRE"? Ah, never mind...) But then I thought the puns were too much and changed both the dog's name and the episode name. (There's still a joke about Spot later on, but you'll have to wait for it. ^_-)  
  
*3*: This really doesn't have much to do with the story, so you can just ignore it. I just thought this would bring up a humorous scene. Because I'm one of Bill's major fans (If you don't think Warp Series is enough proof, check out my Masaki webshrine... by e-mailing me for the locations, as for some reason, they won't show up here. =|), I'm not going to degrade him further by using this point often in this chapter. =/  
  
*4*: Skitty is a new cat-like Pokémon in Ruby/Sapphire. If you want pictures of it, raid IGN.com because I don't have any on me right now. Sorry!  
  
*5*: Chester is yet another familiar name I put in here. I named him after one of Rick Cramer's kisekae dolls (electronic paper dolls), though Chester is one of my less favorite ones. (Rick Cramer is AWESOME as is; it's just that I really wasn't fond of Chester. By the way, to check out Rick's dolls, e-mail me for the location, and I'll send it to you.) Zero, on the other hand, was my favorite because he (Yes, the Zero doll is a he.) has much more of a story to him than the others. (That and I disapprove of animal cruelty... to an extent. You'll see what that has to do with Zero if you download the doll. Not the Zero's Nightmare one, though; the Zero Mirror one at the bottom of Rick's kisekae page.) And just to answer any other questions, yes, I'm planning on naming more characters after Rick Cramer dolls, including Nigel, Reno, Jamie, Hazael, etc., etc. ^_-  
  
*6*: She means shifters and/or programmers. However, unlike Ziggy, who sees Bill as her friend and equal, Oracle sees both the shifters and programmers she serves as her betters, hense why she calls them her masters (and mistresses).  
  
*7*: Um... Yeah. I remember what I had said about hostees in episode two. Just throw that out the window because I don't think I'm ever going to use it. =/  
  
*8*: Hey, I said I wasn't going to degrade Bill any further by making jokes about Spot not being housebroken. I never said anything about Spot getting neutered while Bill was inside. Yep. I'm in sadist mode for this chapter. Be afraid! XD  
  
*9*: This refers to the vet.  
  
*10*: Aren't you glad that THIS is over? I mean, if I went any further... Heh, let's just say we'd all have to throw a pity party and a half for poor Bill. (I mean, even I feel sorry for him for what I did to him in this episode. ^_^;) Anywho, if this at all seemed rushed, sorry, but I wasn't really concentrating while writing this episode. (I don't even remember writing HALF of this episode, but apparently, I did... O_o;) 


	7. Trading Spaces

Foreword: First off, after uploading the last episode and doing some last-minute proofreading, I noticed that this site butchered my writings everytime I wrote a URL. I've tried to fix all the episodes that this dirt hole had screwed up, but I'm not sure if everything's alright now. So, if you come across a sentence that makes absolutely no sense and actually appears to be fragments of two unrelated sentences, please e-mail me immediately and tell me which episode you found it in and at which part. Thanks! ^_^  
  
(And by the way, as I said before, if you want a list of URLs I attempted to use in the last episode, just e-mail me.)  
  
Secondly, just for the record, I've never seen Trading Spaces, the TLC show. It's just EXTREMELY popular in my school, and I prefer making fun of the social bandwagon rather than getting on it. *ducks as someone throws a brick at her before holding up a sign that reads, "Please do not throw dangerous objects at the author!"*  
  
Okie dokie! On with the show!  
  
***  
Episode 07--  
Trading Spaces  
  
"Alright, Ziggy! Try it now!"  
  
WHAM!  
  
"OW!!"  
  
"Get away from the door, genius!"  
  
Bill hopped away from the door a little, shaking his foot after the door had been closed on it.  
  
"Talk about getting your foot caught in the door," Ziggy muttered. "Sorry about that, Bill."  
  
"Oh, no problem," he replied with a hint of sarcasm. "It's not like I was going to use that foot too often today anyways..."  
  
Ziggy rolled her eyes. "I said I was sorry..."  
  
Bill muttered something which Ziggy couldn't hear, but the word "damn" was involved quite a couple of times in the sentence.  
  
He continued to work on the door. Actually, the door was part of his new security system. Maybe it might not completely stop Team Rocket, but it surely would slow them down a bit. Plus, everything was operated by Ziggy, so, through the use of a few security cameras, more of the lighthouse could be protected at one time, even while Bill was on a shift.  
  
The door to the cellar was replaced by a metal one (not too heavy to push open, but hard as hell to knock down), which was yet another piece controlled by Ziggy (it, like the front doors and many of the windows, could be opened and closed by her). Unfortunately, during the testing, she... closed it a bit fast.  
  
Luckily, Bill's shoe took most of the damage.  
  
"Alright, I've limited the speed and force with which you can possibly close the door," Bill told her. "It can be done quickly, just not so fast and so powerfully that you sever a body part. After all, I want this place to be safe, not filled with amputated limbs."  
  
Ziggy rolled her eyes again and tested the door. Apparently, Bill was satisfied with this. He stepped away (partially limping on the foot Ziggy had slammed the door on) and nodded to himself before taking his toolbox down the steps with him.  
  
"Alright, Ziggy. It's all set up," he said. "You know what to do, right?"  
  
Ziggy narrowed her eyes. "How can I not? It's like you wrote those directions for a freaking Slowpoke!"  
  
"Hmm... Touché."  
  
"Now that the lighthouse is fortified more than Alcatraz, do you mind taking a shift?" Ziggy inquired.  
  
Bill raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'more than Alcatraz'?"  
  
"You did go a bit overboard."  
  
Bill shook his head. "Because I don't have time to argue, I choose to ignore that."  
  
Ziggy jumped around her program window in happiness. "WOOHOO! I won!"  
  
Bill rolled his eyes and proceeded to shift out.  
  
~~~  
  
Two and a half days*1* went by before we meet up with our hero again. In this shift, he occupied the Farfetch'd of a recovering alcoholic, and his mission was to help his host's owner by keeping him away from liquor just until the middle-aged man could find a job to keep his mind off of alcohol.  
  
It wasn't easy. This man would frequently attempt to sneak into bars and liquor shops, but luckily, Bill was not far behind and ready to jump in and stop the former alcoholic.  
  
As Bill followed the man down a street, Ziggy appeared a little ways away to check on him as usual.  
  
"So far, so good," she muttered to herself. "If Bill's plan involving that pamphlet works, then he'll only need a few more hours."  
  
"Spying on your boyfriend? Naughty little girl..."  
  
Startled, Ziggy screamed and turned around to see Oracle behind her.  
  
"Who... who are you!?" Ziggy asked urgently as she blinked rapidly.  
  
"My name is Oracle," she replied in a smooth, devious tone. "I'm just like you, only I fight for the side that actually has its perks. After all, Team Rocket can get whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want. It's an honor to be working for someone who can do all that."  
  
"You work for Team Rocket!?"  
  
"Honey, did you honestly think someone who looks as good as I do WOULDN'T belong to the world-famous Team Rocket?"  
  
"Good?" Ziggy scoffed. "I'm WAY prettier than you are!"  
  
Oracle laughed. "You? Sweetie, don't kid yourself. You're nothing but an old, chubby bat."  
  
"I'm not a bat; I'm not old, and I'm NOT CHUBBY!!" Ziggy snapped as she jumped and aimed a kick for Oracle's head.  
  
As Ziggy's foot went through Oracle, the evil hologram burst out laughing.  
  
"You're not too bright, are you? If you were a bit smarter, you would know that physical violence doesn't affect me," Oracle informed her counterpart with a cold tone.   
  
Oracle held up the back of her hand to her mouth and laughed like Emerald*2* into her wrist for a moment before holding her hand away from her mouth a bit. "I'd love to stay and chat, creampuff, but I've got places to go, things to do, and shifters to guide. Au revoir!"  
  
The darker hologram turned, allowing her cape to fly up as she disappeared.  
  
"Augh! She's an annoying little prima donna AND a bitch queen!" Ziggy sneered, balling her hands into fists. She relaxed at a sudden realization. "Shifters to guide...?" She gasped. "Oh crap! Bill was right! I'd better warn him! Those shifters might be after him right now!"  
  
With that, Ziggy vanished.  
  
~~~  
  
{I turn around for one moment, and he disappears!} Bill growled.  
  
He ran down the street, looking for a familiar figure, holding a pamphlet for Alcoholics Anonymous under the wing with the leek. His plan was simple. Get the charge*3* to join Alcoholics Anonymous, and there might be a good chance that he could get over alcoholism.  
  
Of course, a disappearing charge is never good.  
  
{Where did he go!? Oh...! At this rate, I'll never finish this mission! Ziggy, I need your help!}  
  
A Meowth poked his head out from an alley Bill had just passed. He had heard Bill speak to himself, and at the sound of his voice*4*, the scratchcat grinned and snuck up behind the Farfetch'd.  
  
{McKenzie...}  
  
Bill jumped and turned around in time to see the Meowth pounce on him and pin him to the cement, holding one paw-filled claw barely inches away from his face.  
  
{Oh great! A rabid Meowth!!}  
  
{Tell me... what else do you know!?}  
  
Bill's eyes widened. {Loki...?}  
  
At that moment, Loki screamed and began to shift, marked by a bright, blood-red light. Bill, who still felt endangered by the Meowth, couldn't help but join him. Both sparks of light left the Pokémon's bodies at the same time and rose into the air, twisting around each other before splitting and vanishing.  
  
Just then, Ziggy appeared. Meowth screeched and ran back into the alley.  
  
"Hey, Bill! Did you call for me?"  
  
Farfetch'd cocked his head for a moment, gave a shrill cry, and began marching away, leaving the pamphlet behind.  
  
"Huh?" Ziggy blinked. "If that wasn't Bill... Then where is he...?"  
  
~~~  
  
First, there were the hushed voices buzzing around him. His entire body ached, just like it had after the first time he had shifted. Finally and slowly, Bill opened his eyes.  
  
When the world came into focus, he knew something was wrong. He was slumped at the bottom of the Time Capsule Beta in a dark and cold room, surrounded by scientists.  
  
"Welcome back, sir," Crocus said with a grin. "I apologize for doubting your decision. Apparently, all went well, am I correct?"  
  
"Where am I...?" Bill asked cautiously.  
  
"You don't know?" Crocus looked at him with a shocked expression. "You're at Team Rocket Labratories, in the building used for Project Antiwarp."  
  
"Team Rocket Labratories...?" Bill whispered to himself holding his head.  
  
'What kind of twisted nightmare is this!?' he thought. 'And why are these people looking at me like... What?'  
  
As he fully came to his senses, he noticed his voice had changed,*4* and so did several other aspects of his physical self as well. He glanced to his right to find a bare piece of metal inside the Time Capsule Beta. Where he should have seen his own reflection, he saw a stranger sight.  
  
Loki.  
  
"Oh boy..."*6*  
  
~~~  
  
Loki awoke to find himself alone, in the cellar of the lighthouse. Well, not quite alone.  
  
"Hey! What's the big idea of leaving a shift like that!?" Ziggy snapped.  
  
"I was forced to," Loki replied dryly.  
  
He stopped in realization and muttered quietly to himself, "What the hell is going on!?"  
  
"Yeah? Well, that's not much of an excuse! You have control over when you shift out, right?"  
  
"Listen, I'll talk to you later," Loki said as he stood and walked toward the steps. "I just need to rest for awhile."  
  
"Fine," Ziggy said with a sigh. "Go get some rest, Bill. Maybe you'll still have enough time to save your charge. You can try again later."  
  
'Bill?' Loki stared vacantly at Ziggy. 'Did she just call me Bill?'  
  
"Ciao, Bill!" Ziggy waved for a moment and disappeared as the computer shut itself down.  
  
As soon as the screen went black, Loki bolted up the stairs.  
  
'Oh god! I need a mirror!' he thought frantically. 'Don't tell me I'm in...'  
  
He found the metal door and knelt down low enough to look at his reflection. Instead of seeing his own, he saw Bill's.  
  
"Dammit!" Loki pounded the door. "We must have gotten mixed up when we both shifted! And that means I'm..." He growled and shut his eyes. "...I'm stuck in this goody-two-shoe's body!"  
  
Then, he paused, grinned, and opened his eyes. He glanced behind him, into the cellar.  
  
"On second thought, this might work to my advantage..."  
  
~~~  
  
Bill stood in the men's room, splashing cold water on his face, hoping that there could be just a slight chance that this all could be a dream. He opened his eyes, pulled a paper towel from a dispenser beside the sink, and wiped his face dry. As he put the paper towel over the bottom half of his face, he paused and stared in the mirror.  
  
'Great,' he thought. 'Just perfect. First, I lose my way on the way back to my body and end up in Loki's, which means he's most likely in my body. And I just finished installing a security system so he WOULDN'T wander around in my lighthouse! Second, I try to shift out, but I can't. And to top it all off, Ziggy won't answer me!'  
  
He removed the paper towel, held the edges of the sink basin, and looked up toward the ceiling.  
  
"Ziggy, I could really use your help right about now!"  
  
No answer.  
  
"Just great..."  
  
Bill sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as he shut his eyes.  
  
"Well? Now what?"  
  
He opened his eyes and looked at his reflection once more.  
  
'I've got to get back to my lighthouse,' he thought. 'Loki isn't stupid. He'll try to take advantage of our situation and steal whatever documents he doesn't already have.'  
  
He looked over his shoulder, toward the door in the upper left corner of the room.  
  
'Gettting there will be easy,' he figured. 'Loki constantly wants something from me. I can just ask his toadies*7* to take me there. However, I just hope I can stop him when I'm alone and without any of my usual tricks...'  
  
He took a deep breath and released it slowly as he stood straight. He paused for a moment, running his fingers through Loki's notable long hair before putting it back in a ponytail and leaving the restroom.  
  
~~~  
  
After allowing a few hours to pass, Loki reentered the cellar and began looking through the stacks of paper on almost every flat surface in the cellar (save for one counter strewn with wires and metal and, of course, the floor).  
  
About an hour later, Loki looked through the last stack.  
  
"Nothing!" He growled for a moment. "Not one of them could tell me anything about Warp!"  
  
He looked back at the computer.  
  
"Hmm... Perhaps his Ziggy can tell me..."  
  
He booted up the computer and waited. As soon as it was ready to use, Ziggy appeared.  
  
"Ready to try again?" she asked.  
  
"Not right now, Ziggy," he replied, trying his best to act like Bill. "First, I need to access some files..."  
  
Ziggy cocked her head. "I'm not quite sure what's up with your priorities today, but okay. I'll help you. Just tell me what you want."  
  
Loki grinned.  
  
~~~  
  
"So, let me get this straight, you want us to take you back to McKenzie's lighthouse," Clyde said.  
  
"That's right," Bill responded with a nod.  
  
He walked down a darkened corridor with Bonnie and Clyde, the first Rocket employees he came across, save for scientists, the scientists' assistants, and a janitor. He hoped he was headed toward the exit, but in all honesty, he had not a single clue to where he was in the labratories, nor where he was headed to. He figured he was going in the right direction because neither Bonnie or Clyde spoke up. Of course, they could also be waiting for a command to tell them where to go...  
  
He didn't realize they were exchanging glances, wondering if their superior was psychologically healthy.  
  
"You do know that we've got everythin' we need from that dump, right?" Bonnie inquired.  
  
'Ignore that,' Bill told himself before nodding and speaking aloud. "Yeah, but I've got a feeling we've missed something."  
  
"Don't mean to be rude or anythin'," Bonnie said, "but did you discuss this with Master Giovanni?"  
  
"Do you really want to tell him that we might have failed?" Bill inquired smoothly.  
  
"No, sir!" Bonnie and Clyde quickly answered. "We'll take you there! Don't worry!"  
  
Bill gave them a nod as they turned around and walked toward the REAL exit. Hiding his embarrassment, he followed the Rocket pair.  
  
'That wasn't too bad,' he thought. 'Now for phase two...'  
  
~~~  
  
As soon as Ziggy found the documents for Warp (not before giving Loki strange looks), Loki dismissed her and began saving each document to what few blank discs remained. (He didn't quite read them all the way through, however.) When the last one was saved, Loki put each disc (three of them) in a box and took the box with him as he ascended the stairs.  
  
He left the cellar and made his way to the front door. He stopped as soon as he saw the telephone.  
  
"Hmm..."  
  
He grinned as an idea came to mind...  
  
~~~  
  
Clyde was piloting the helicopter over a forest as Bonnie leaned back in the seat next to him and as Bill stared out the window, waiting for a specific point...  
  
"Boss, may I ask you a li'l question?" Bonnie asked.  
  
Bill jumped at the sound of her voice (mostly because no one had spoken much since take off) and turned to her. "Sure."  
  
"What's your obsession over McKenzie anyways?" Bonnie inquired.  
  
'Egotism, perhaps?' Bill joked mentally.  
  
"I mean," Bonnie continued, "You're constantly plotting his downfall and his death..."  
  
At this point Bill looked away, eyes wide. 'I didn't just hear that...'  
  
"...Or insulting him," Bonnie finished. "I think it's a bit unhealthy."  
  
Bill shrugged, as if he were Loki. "He deserves it."  
  
Bonnie opened her mouth to say something more, but the spot Bill was waiting for came up.  
  
"Land here," he instructed.  
  
"Here?" Clyde asked. "Sir, don't you want to stop right at the lighthouse?"  
  
"And ruin the element of surprise?" He shook his head. "Land here."  
  
Clyde shrugged. "You're the boss."  
  
Clyde carefully landed the helicopter in a clearing in the middle of the forest near the lighthouse. Bill immediately got out, followed by Bonnie and Clyde.  
  
"Wait here," Bill ordered them. "I want to deal with McKenzie alone."  
  
Bonnie and Clyde looked at each other and then at Bill's back before protesting. "But sir...!"  
  
"Just wait here," Bill repeated. "I'll call you if I need help."  
  
"Yes, sir," both agents finally said quietly.  
  
Bill walked away, into the forest, headed toward the lighthouse.  
  
About twenty minutes after he left, Bonnie's cell phone rang. She answered the call.  
  
"Hello! Bonnie speaking!"  
  
She listened for a moment. Her eyes slowly widened with excitement.  
  
"Oh! That's GREAT news! I'll tell Clyde right away! See you later!"  
  
She hung up and turned to her partner with happy eyes.  
  
"Clyde, headquarters just called to tell us that McKenzie called in. He surrendered and agreed to join Team Rocket!"  
  
Clyde smiled. "I think the boss would LOVE to hear this..."  
  
He began to walk toward the forest.  
  
"Wait! He gave us orders to stay here!" Bonnie objected.  
  
"He'll forgive us when we tell him the news," Clyde assured her.  
  
Bonnie thought about that for a moment and nodded before following Clyde into the forest.  
  
~~~  
  
At last, Bill emerged from the forest and ran the rest of the way back to his lighthouse.  
  
'Home sweet home,' he thought. 'Thank god it's still in one piece!'  
  
He burst through the door and looked around. No sign of Loki.  
  
'The cellar!'  
  
Quickly, he ran toward the cellar and descended its steps. There, he saw himself, booting up the computer.  
  
"Loki!"  
  
Loki turned around and smiled deviously.  
  
"Well, hello, there!" he greeted. "Nice to see myself again..."  
  
Bill stepped forward courageously. "I want my body back."  
  
"Oh, but I'm just beginning to have fun with it!" Loki replied. He held up the box which held the discs. "See this? Inside, I have discs with useful bits of information about Warp on each. My guess is that Master Giovanni would be INCREDIBLY happy to be in possession of these..." Loki let out a short laugh. "...But that's only one thing I'm going to give them..."  
  
"What would the other thing be?" Bill inquired with caution.  
  
Loki laughed darkly and slipped past Bill quickly. Bill tried to grab him, but Loki already made his way up the stairs.  
  
"I'm giving away..." Loki began.  
  
Loki reached the top of the stairs and looked back down toward Bill, who had stopped halfway up the stairs. He smirked.  
  
"I'm giving you away," Loki told him. "As far as Team Rocket is concerned, you just phoned in to tell them that you've agreed to join Team Rocket."  
  
Bill gasped. "You didn't...!"  
  
Loki backed away a bit further. "I did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a rendezvous with a couple of agents to get to. Bye now!"  
  
"Loki!!"  
  
Bill ran up the last half of the steps, only to have Loki slam the door in his face. When he tried to open the door, the knob wouldn't move.  
  
"I've got you now, Loki!"   
  
Bill shook, startled at the sound of Ziggy's voice.  
  
"There's no way out!" Ziggy announced. "No doubt Bill's going for the police!"  
  
'Just great!' Bill thought with a worried glance down the steps.  
  
Bill ran back downstairs and frantically tried to convince Ziggy to open the door.  
  
"Ziggy, let me out! Loki is getting away!" Bill told her.  
  
"What's wrong with you? Get hit in the head too many times!?" Ziggy snapped. "YOU'RE Loki!"  
  
"No, Ziggy! It's me! Bill! We shifted back to the wrong bodies!" he explained. "You've got to open the door!"  
  
Ziggy looked away and closed her eyes. "Sorry, kiddo. I don't buy it."  
  
"Please, Ziggy!" Bill pleaded. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true!"  
  
Ziggy's face suddenly lit up. "I know! I'll ask you a question only Bill would know the answer to! If you get it right, then I'll know you're telling the truth!"  
  
There was a moment of silence. Bill sighed and calmed down.  
  
"Alright. Whatever makes you believe me." Bill nodded.  
  
"Alright, kiddo! What Pokémon were you most afraid of?"  
  
"Fearow."  
  
Ziggy paused. "Loki would know that too, wouldn't he? Hmm... Alright, then besides Pokémon researching, what do you do to pass time?"  
  
"Play chess or read one of the works by Jules Verne or H.G. Wells. That is, if I'm not on a shift."  
  
"That would be easy to find out too..." Ziggy thought for awhile, narrowed her eyes, and smiled mischieviously. "Alright, kiddo! Here's a tough one surely nobody except Bill knows and that no one else can find the answer to! What's my real name, and how did I get it?"  
  
Bill froze. Ziggy's smile grew wider.  
  
"Zigurat Alpha," Bill finally said softly. "Alpha because you're only the alpha version. I originally intended on making a beta version, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of you. Zigurat because... That was the name the computer gave itself whenever I played games of chess on it. That inspired me to create you."  
  
Ziggy's smile vanished, and her eyes widened. "You ARE Bill..."  
  
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Bill told her with a hint of impatience. "Now, please, Ziggy! I need to get out of here!"  
  
"Wait!" Ziggy closed her eyes for a moment. "Zero's telling me something."  
  
Bill paused to listen.  
  
Ziggy went on. "She says there's only one way to get back into your own body. If you and Loki touch when you both are completely willing to return to your true bodies, then your minds and souls will cross over into the right vessels. Got it?"  
  
Bill nodded. "Thanks, Ziggy."  
  
She smiled and opened the door. "Go get him, Bill."  
  
Bill smirked before turning and running up the stairs and out the door.  
  
~~~  
  
Loki ran for where he had said he'd meet Team Rocket. Everything was going his way. And if the rest of this day went according to plan (which it would because there's no way it could fail), Team Rocket would be in possession of all they needed to know about Warp, and as soon as Loki and Bill had switched back, Bill would have no other choice but to serve Team Rocket. It was perfect.  
  
Suddenly, someone knocked him down. He looked up to see his own face staring at him with a triumphant gaze.  
  
"Hello, Loki. Did you miss me?"  
  
"You!" Loki got up and pushed the other out of the way, attempting to run away again.  
  
Bill dashed forward to block Loki's way. Loki tried to throw a few punches, but missed and was pushed down again.  
  
"Oh, so you still haven't gotten used to being me, have you?" Bill inquired mockingly. "That's too bad. Especially since I've gotten used to being you…"  
  
Loki stood and tried to throw another punch, but still missed.  
  
"Stupid, weak body," he muttered angrily.  
  
Bill grabbed Loki by the wrist, wrenched the box out of his hand, and threw it behind them.  
  
"What I lack in strength, I make up for in intelligence," Bill told him as he closed his eyes. "I believe now would be the time where you give up my body…"  
  
"Not quite…" Loki growled.  
  
"I'll get him for you, Boss!"  
  
Clyde charged out of the forest as Bonnie remained in the bushes, watching. He dove at Loki and tackled him, having seen him attempt to attack Bill (who Clyde thought was Loki, even though he wasn't and… er, never mind*8*). Bill flinched as he watched Clyde beat Loki senseless.  
  
'That will definitely hurt in the morning,' Bill thought. 'Perhaps a few more mornings beyond that as well…'  
  
When Clyde was finished, Bill knelt down and spoke with Loki.  
  
"Now?" he asked.  
  
"Now," Loki agreed.  
  
"Good!"   
  
Bill grabbed Loki by the wrist again and closed his eyes, allowing his consciousness to pass back into his rightful body. He groaned a bit in pain (Hey, his body just had the crap beaten out of it by a burly thug!), but he was able to pull out a PokéBall to summon a Pokémon*9* to protect himself and the documents.  
  
He didn't know what happened next, due to the fact that he blacked out in exhaustion and a few blows to the head.  
  
~~~  
  
"Do you want me to ask?"  
  
"Not really, but go ahead."  
  
"Okay. I will." Ziggy pointed at him. "What the hell happened to you!?"  
  
"Like I said," Bill replied. "When Loki and I shifted back after he found me on my last case, we went to each other's bodies, rather than our own."  
  
"Yeah, that's nice, but I meant what happened to you physically?" Ziggy asked. "You look like you got run over by a traffic jam!"  
  
"Well…" Bill gave her an embarrassed glance. "Let's just say Clyde was just trying to be loyal…"  
  
Ziggy cocked her head. "Ouch. Why didn't you order him to stop?"  
  
"If I hadn't, Loki wouldn't be so eager to get out of my body," Bill replied with a sigh. "Just a few minor injuries, but it's worth it, in my opinion."  
  
"Right..." Ziggy rolled her eyes in sarcasm. "It looks like Clyde performed Riverdance on top of you, and you only walked away with 'a few minor injuries.'"  
  
"They ARE minor. Besides, at least I'm still alive."  
  
"Yeah. You're just in incredible pain."  
  
"Yes, that's true..."  
  
Ziggy rolled her eyes as a period of silence fell between them.  
  
"Hey, I'm sorry for not believing you," Ziggy apologized as she closed her eyes halfway.  
  
"It's alright," Bill replied. "Perfectly understandable."  
  
Ziggy smiled. "At least you're not angry with me."  
  
"Why would I be?" Bill inquired as he searched through the first aid kit on the desk he sat at.  
  
"I don't know," Ziggy replied with a shrug. "Because I didn't trust you, maybe?"  
  
"Ziggy, I was in Loki's body," Bill reminded her. "I can understand why you wouldn't trust me. Besides..." He drew out a roll of cloth bandages from the first aid kit. "I never really become angry at my own friends."  
  
Ziggy didn't reply as she watched Bill slowly begin to wrap his arm with the bandages.  
  
"Do you honestly think that would help?" Ziggy inquired as she narrowed her eyes and put her arms behind her head.  
  
"I only have a few bruises and a sprained wrist," Bill replied. "It's not like my arm is broken."  
  
Another period of silence.  
  
"So I guess you finally failed a mission," Ziggy reminded him softly as she opened her eyes fully.  
  
"Don't remind me," Bill said with a sigh as he stopped wrapping his arm for a moment. "I can't express how sorry I am about that, but I had no choice. I felt as if I were in danger, so I shifted out on instinct."  
  
"Sure, Bill," Ziggy replied with a shrug. "But what did Zero say about failing a shift?"  
  
"She said I'd take a piece of my host with me, whatever that means," Bill answered as he continued to wrap his arm.  
  
"Hmm..." Ziggy sat and thought for a moment. "Well, I've got nothing. Sorry, Bill."  
  
Bill kept himself from shrugging (as even that was painful) and only glanced at Ziggy as he got to the end of the roll.  
  
And as the episode ends, I take you outside where there had been a beautiful, rose sunset sitting on the horizon of the sea which the lighthouse looked out upon. All was still then, and all was quiet.  
  
"KYAAAAAAAAA!!!"  
  
Except for that.  
  
"You're not supposed to pull on it,*10* genius!" Ziggy snapped.  
  
"Accident..." Bill explained simply with a painful groan.  
  
~~~  
  
End episode 7*11*  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: I've cut a lot of the shift out because, frankly, it's not important in this week's episode. You get the general idea of what happened during it though, right? *rereads the note, snickers, and starts imitating Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures* Shift not impoooortant! XD (Sorry. Mai-chan got herself worked up through a fun little session on Furcadia. =D)  
  
*2*: Reference to Sailormoon R. Emerald is a green-haired (come to think of it, green-obsessed) general of the Negamoon with a super-loud and incredibly annoying laugh. On the other hand, she could do pretty nifty things with that red fan of hers... =D (For those of you who took that the wrong way, shame on you!)  
  
*3*: Because I'm tired of saying "host's owner" everytime I'm refering to this anonymous man, I've simplified the phrase into one easy word -- charge(s). So, for future reference, remember that a charge refers to the person who owns the host and is most likely the one a shifter is supposed to help. Unless of course the host is occupied by an Antiwarp shifter, or the situation is like Bill's in the last episode, at which point then it would just be the host's owner. I know. Confusing. I never said this was going to be easy... er, to read. *whacks herself for listening to too many Quantum Leap sound clips*  
  
*4*: I know it's a bit early to be replying to reviews, but in the last episode, Light Sneasel pointed out that it was odd that Mondo could find Bill. I thought about this for a moment and came up with an explanation that might cover this. (Of course, you can also always think of it as a plot hole. Like the one in episode two where Ziggy knows that Bill is afraid of Fearows, though she technically wasn't around when he gained that phobia. I only recently noticed that myself. O_o;) Both Mondo and this Meowth (who is, and I apologize for the spoiler, occupied by a shifter) heard Bill's voice. Now, to normal Pokémon, Bill would sound like the Pokémon he inhabits temporarily (same thing as normal humans), but to other shifters, every watcher (Ziggy and Oracle only, at this moment), and Zero, he keeps his human voice. Why? Don't ask. THAT'S the plot hole.  
  
*5*: Note three doesn't apply when shifters are in human bodies, regardless of whose it is. Why? Because returning to your own species is almost like returning to your own self, so many rules that apply for normal shifting don't apply in this scenario. Confused? Well, it's about time I've lost you in this episode... ^_^; (Gomen!)  
  
*6*: This was actually added in later. The scene could have ended with a little suspense thing going involving just Loki's name, but then I thought, "Hey! Let's make a Quantum Leap reference here!" So I did. And I put in what many people claim to be the most overused line in the series. Hense the "oh boy." =p  
  
*7*: For those of you who don't know, a toady is a submissive follower/flatterer. (And "toadying up to someone" means that you're doing your best to flatter them. Ah, the things you can learn from Princess Maker 2... =D)  
  
*8*: Wow, this whole thing is confusing. Even I'M a bit befuddled... o_o;  
  
*9*: Yes, I'm aware that Bill had said that all of his Pokémon were stolen in the last episode. He was exaggerating. He still has a few Team Rocket hadn't found, but otherwise, most of them are gone.  
  
*10*: She means pull on the end of the bandage after you're done wrapping. The explanation behind this is that Bill was trying to secure the end and ended up pulling on the bandage. Now try that to a sprain. Hurts, doesn't it? (Yes, I've actually done that before. And I'll never do it again. o_o)  
  
*11*: Wow. That was done quick. O_o This took the least time to type up at only four days. (I started it Sunday and finished it Wednesday.) It's a bit fast-paced and a bit confusing (note footnote #8), but I thought it was entertaining, and it was fun to type up. I guess I still have a bit of sadism left over from episode six... ^_^; And by the way, if I had made no sense whatsoever at any point in this episode and/or gotten half of the characters OUT of character, just remember this: I typed most of this episode at night. So sue me. -_- 


	8. Compromise

Foreword: Well, I've gone back over the last episode and realized something -- this season is going fast. In fact, we're fast approaching the season finale, which is a mere two episodes away, according to my plans. Now, my point? I'm just saying that I fear that it might go a bit FASTER than I've intended, leaving you, the readers, disappointed. (And myself, as well. Hey, I do this because I'm bored and without a life, after all!) And hopefully, I do no such thing. But hey, if I ever do, just whack me with a fish, and I'll try to make it better. ^_^;;;  
  
Anywho, there's my pre-episode blurb of the week. Now enjoy the episode! ^_^  
  
***  
Episode 08--  
Compromise  
  
Loki sat at his desk in his office, reclined in his chair and tapping on his desk with his index finger (as his hand remained slightly curved, but still lying on the surface). He suffered a good many random shifts since he became a shifter, all of which didn't take him any closer to dismantling Project Warp and gaining the power he promised to Giovanni. He never shifted into a rare Pokémon, and he couldn't stay inside whatever Pokémon that could be remotely useful. It was this failure that made him fear contacting his superior.  
  
His mind thought back to what Ziggy had unintentionally told him when he was in Bill's body.  
  
"You have control over when you shift out, right?"  
  
This phrase echoed in Loki's mind. Control. Ziggy's memory, too, had something about control, but it had been erased halfway through the process Crocus used to copy the files from her bank on McKenzie's laptop to Antiwarp's computer. Now it only had something about meditation, but it didn't say for how long or what else to do...  
  
Loki balled his hand into a fist and pounded his desk in thought.  
  
'Control,' he thought. 'How did McKenzie do it!?'  
  
Oracle appeared and sat at the edge of Loki's desk. He looked at her with a glare.  
  
"What?" he growled.  
  
"Someone's in a bad mood today," she commented as she examined her fingernails. "Penny for your thoughts?"  
  
There was a silence.  
  
"Oracle, when we copied the Zigurat Alpha program to create you, did you by any chance inherit her memory banks?"  
  
Oracle ran her thumb over her fingernails. "Sorry, sir. In the customization process, all of Zigurat's personality traits and memory banks were deleted so fresh ones could be programmed to fit me."  
  
Loki continued to tap on the desk. "I guess the only other option is to find our little friends at Warp and ask them personally..."  
  
Loki reached over to press the button on the intercom to send a message to his secretary when he suddenly stiffened. He began to scream and shake, just as a red light washed over him and shot into the air, disappearing into the ceiling.  
  
Oracle sighed. "Here we go again..."  
  
~~~  
  
Bill paced in the cellar, deep in thought. Over and over again, he thought about what would have happened if Loki had gotten his hands on the files. If Loki knew everything Bill knew about shifting. Though this wouldn't help Loki because shifting was a game of chance at this point (you could only HOPE you shifted into a useful body), it still didn't mean that Bill shouldn't worry about it. After all, if he and Loki had a level playing field, then either would be in danger. And if Loki had control of when he shifted, and he shifted into, say, a well-trained Jolteon while Bill went into a recently-caught Squirtle, then Bill would certainly be in trouble... unless of course he shifted out first. But what if Loki fired an attack before that?  
  
What I mean to say is, the more Bill thought about it, the less a pretty picture it became. And he couldn't take his mind off of this.  
  
"You know, I'm pretty sure they make a medicine for your kind of problems..."  
  
Bill sighed and rolled his eyes. "Hello, Ziggy."  
  
On the computer (which had been turned on so that Bill could erase the data on the discs), Ziggy's program box appeared, complete with her smiling face.  
  
"Hey, Bill! ...Er, PENNY for your thoughts?" She grinned triumphantly, knowing that she had gotten the saying right this time.  
  
He continued to pace, no longer acknowledging her presence. "Hmm..."  
  
Ziggy blinked. "Um... Bill?"  
  
"Hmm..."  
  
Ziggy grew irritated, annoyed that she was being ignored. "Bill?"  
  
"Hmm..."  
  
She smirked and tested him. "You're a loser who looks like he stole a costume from Austin Powers, only you'd be lucky to get a femmebot!"  
  
He turned his head toward her, eyes flashing in slight anger at the insult. "What was that?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"For your information," Bill said with a cold tone, "I was just thinking about what would have happened if Loki had succeeded in stealing information about Warp."  
  
"Well, you ARE the idiot who wrote all that stuff down," Ziggy replied.  
  
"Hey, I wrote this down for a reason!"  
  
"Oh really? And it is...?"  
  
Bill sighed. "Sometimes, if I write down what I know, I can begin to figure out what I DON'T know."  
  
"Dressing up in Pokémon costumes and writing down confidential information you don't want people to see, all to help you 'figure things out,'" Ziggy recalled. "Are all humans insane and stupid, or are you the only one?"  
  
"I'd like to think I'm the only one," Bill joked with a smile. "I prefer to be unique."  
  
"No wonder you live alone."  
  
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?"  
  
"Oh, nothing..."  
  
Bill opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment, Ziggy interrupted.  
  
"Hey! Saved by the shift!" Ziggy said happily. "Ready, Bill?"  
  
"When am I ever?" he inquired.  
  
"I don't know," Ziggy answered as she cocked her head. "When ARE you ever?"  
  
"When I get back, remind me to teach you about rhetorical questions."*1*  
  
With that, Bill shifted out.  
  
"Hey! Wait!" Ziggy cried. "You didn't answer my question!!"  
  
~~~  
  
Bill shifted in, blinked, and realized that he was riding on someone's shoulder. With a loud yelp, he tumbled off his perch and onto the dirt road. The boy he was riding on stopped and turned around, along with rest of the party, including a red-headed girl and a squinty-eyed boy.  
  
"What's wrong, Pikachu?" the boy asked.  
  
Immediately, Bill recognized who this party was. The leader, Ash Ketchum, had come to his lighthouse with this girl, Misty, and this older boy, Brock, over three years ago. The shifter realized he must have been inside that Pikachu of Ash's which refused to enter a PokéBall.  
  
He shook his head and sat up.  
  
{I'm alright,} he muttered, though he knew Ash couldn't understand him.  
  
"Ash, maybe we should take Pikachu to a Pokémon Center," Misty suggested.  
  
"Why? He's fine!" Ash replied. "Aren't you, Pikachu?"  
  
Bill jumped to his feet (or hind paws, if you prefer) and gave a cheerful cry to show all was okay.  
  
"See?" Ash said triumphantly. "No problem! He*2* probably just saw a weird Pokémon in the bushes!"  
  
"Oh... I hope it's not a bug Pokémon," Misty whispered to Brock.  
  
Ash knelt down and reached out to allow Bill to climb onto his shoulder. Uncomfortable with riding on a human's shoulder (though Pikachu are typically light enough to do so), Bill shook his head.  
  
"Huh?" Ash blinked.  
  
"Maybe he just wants to get some exercise," Brock supposed. "I mean, riding on your shoulder all day must leave him restless."  
  
"Oh." Ash stood up with a proud smile as he began walking in the direction he was originally headed. "Alright! We've got a lot of miles to cover if we wanna reach New Bark Town*3* in this lifetime!"  
  
~~~  
  
It was because of this journey that Bill couldn't stop and speak with Ziggy right away. Instead, he waited until sundown when Misty insisted that the group would stop and pitch camp beside a stream. Brock busied himself with setting up the campsite as Misty gathered water with Togepi nearby. This left Ash to gather firewood and Bill to follow his charge. As Ash gathered twigs and branches with a bored expression on his face, Bill slipped away without Ash's notice to find a place where he could finally contact Ziggy.  
  
{Ziggy? Ziggy!}  
  
The hologram appeared, knelt down, and cooed. "Oh! How cuuuuute!"  
  
{Er... Thanks, Ziggy.}  
  
"Oh!" She jumped up, startled. "Hey, Bill! I didn't know..."  
  
If Bill at that point had an eyebrow, he would have raised it then.  
  
"Okay, I lied. I knew you were in there. Give me a break! There's nothing much I can do with a male Pikachu, save for how popular you are with the ladies, but that's not really an insult, so..."  
  
{Ziggy?}  
  
"Alright! Alright!" She sighed and clapped her hands together. "Alright. Do you know this shift's charges?"  
  
{How could I not? Ash... He saved my life.}  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
Bill smiled. {Ash saved my life. More than once, actually. The first time... Well, I'd rather not say. It's one of my more embarrassing moments.}*4*  
  
'Seems like your entire life was an embarrassing moment,' Ziggy said mentally, refraining from speaking the insult outloud.  
  
Bill sighed and continued. {The second time happened the next night. The Pokémon I had been waiting for, a legendary Dragonite supposedly stronger and larger than any other in the world, had come. To this day, I'm not sure what shot at it and caused it to become enraged, but something did. In its anger, it smashed the beacon of my lighthouse as all of us stood on the tower. If Ash hadn't pushed me out of the way and freed me from my shock, I most likely would have been crushed under the debris.}*5*  
  
{I'm in great debt to Ash Ketchum,} Bill concluded. {Ziggy, I want to do everything in my power to help him. Tell me what I have to do.}  
  
"Interesting choice of words there," Ziggy commented. "And don't worry. You WILL be doing everything in your POWER to help him..."   
  
She winked as Bill ignored the pun.  
  
"Anyways, your mission this time around is pretty simple," Ziggy informed him. "See, Ash is destined to be a Pokémon master. Actually, scratch that. THE Pokémon master. And that cute little mouse you're sitting inside of is his ticket to getting to that goal. Unfortunately, that Pikachu's going to disappear on him sometime tonight. If Ash's Pika pal goes AWOL, then Ash is going to get a serious depression streak bad enough to make him drop Pokémon training all together. Just stay in Pikachu long enough to prevent him from disappearing or, if that's not possible, bring him back to Ash. Simple enough for you?"  
  
{Sounds like fun,} Bill replied with a smirk.  
  
"Good! Then Ash's coming back your way! I'll be seeing you later..." Ziggy winked and waved. "Ciao!"  
  
Ziggy disappeared just as Bill heard Ash call for Pikachu. There was a rustle in the bushes beside him, not long after which Ash stumbled through with an armload of wood.  
  
"There you are, Pikachu!" Ash said with relief. "Don't go wandering off like that! Team Rocket might be around with another one of their stupid plans to catch you!"  
  
As Ash began walking back toward the campsite, Bill paused for a moment.  
  
{Team Rocket?} He muttered with a gasp. {Oh boy...}  
  
~~~  
  
Night had fallen, and Ash, Misty (with Togepi in her arms like a teddy bear), and Brock were in their respective sleeping bags, getting some sleep. Bill, however, remained on his back, next to Ash, staring at the starry sky as he went over his mission several times in his head.  
  
How would Pikachu disappear? How could Bill possibly protect Pikachu inside when he didn't even know what to expect?  
  
Then again, he NEVER knew what to expect on a shift, so it probably didn't matter.  
  
Weary due to time, he began to close his eyes... until he heard a rustle among some nearby brush. Still alert, he sat up and stared at the brush for awhile.  
  
All was still and quiet.  
  
'Get a grip on yourself, Bill,' he throught as he slipped back into his position on his back. 'You're in the middle of a forest. It was most likely just a wild Hoothoot.'  
  
His eyelids wouldn't lower this time. He remained still, listening for something and nothing in particular.*6*  
  
There it was again! A rustling... And whispers. He couldn't make out what was being said, but he was positive there were three voices. Two male, one female.  
  
Suddenly, a cloud of blue dust sprayed over the campsite. Bill jumped up upon realizing what it was.  
  
{Sleep Powder!} he cried as he attempted to wake up the trainers and get away before the dust fell.  
  
Unfortunately, he was a moment too late. The dust settled and was inhaled by all except the Pikachu, causing the humans and the Togepi to fall into a deeper sleep. Bill, who was covered with the blue powder, attempted to hold his breath until he could shake off, wipe off, or do SOMETHING to get rid of the Sleep Powder.  
  
As if the Pokémon knew it hadn't gotten a specific target, it sprayed another cloud of blue powder, covering the Pikachu in yet another coat.  
  
Unable to hold his breath any longer, Bill gave in, inhaling a bit of the powder. Within moments, he too was on the ground, fast asleep.  
  
A blue-haired boy carrying a cage, a red-headed girl, a talking Meowth, and a Victreebell immerged from the bushes. As they snuck around the campsite, they began to recite an old little rhyme.  
  
"Prepare for trouble; they're out like a light!"  
  
"And make it double, and say nighty night!"  
  
"To protect the world from devistation!"  
  
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"  
  
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"  
  
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"  
  
The red-head stopped and posed. "Jessie!"  
  
And so did the boy with the cage. "James!"  
  
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"  
  
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"  
  
A Wobbuffet sprang up and saluted. "Wobbu--"  
  
The Meowth, however, didn't appreciate this and promptly shoved the blue blob out of the way before finishing the motto. "Meowth! Dat's right!"  
  
Jessie picked the Pikachu up and put him in the cage that James was holding. She then closed the cage door and locked it with a heavy lock before crying out in victory.  
  
"That was easy!" she said with a smile.  
  
"I told you our old Sleep Powder trick would work!" James responded. "It would have worked in the Orange Islands if we hadn't tried to take that Snorelax!"*7*  
  
James patted Victreebell triumphantly before Victreebell decided to consume its master's head. Jessie attempted to lend a hand by whacking both Victreebell and James numerous times with a giant paper fan.*8*  
  
"Why do I even bother wit a team like you?" Meowth muttered as he took the cage from James's twitching hand.  
  
~~~  
  
As the sun rose and threw its beams of light in through the window of the cabin, the Sleep Powder wore off. With a relieved sigh, Bill slowly opened his eyes. It took him awhile to become fully aware of his surroundings.  
  
{WHAT'S GOING ON!?}  
  
Cages. He hated them. Pokémon inside them had always looked so sad, so abused, so alone...  
  
He wrapped his forepaws around the bars and looked at the structure of the cage. His eyes fell on the pad lock, securing him inside. He touched it.  
  
'Trapped... I've got to get out of here!'  
  
He stood back and used one of Pikachu's electric attacks, Thunder. He finished, opened his eyes, and touched the bars. None of them were even warm.  
  
{Shock-proof,} he muttered. {Well, there's more than one way to skin a cat!}  
  
He backed up and ran forward, using Quick Attack on the wall of the cage. It fell on its side, then off the table it was on, striking the floor with a clatter. Its occupant hit the wood floor with a thud.  
  
He looked at the cage's structure and still found no damages.  
  
He growled. {I've got to get out of here! But how!?}  
  
{Don't bother. You're not going anywhere.}  
  
Bill looked up to see Wobbuffet standing nearby with its goofy grin. But it was its voice that got to Bill.  
  
{Loki!}  
  
Bill dropped to all fours, mimicking the defensive posture he knew Pikachu usually used. His ears were bent back, his tail stood straight up, and sparks were flying from his cheeks as he stood on the tips of his digits.  
  
{Wouldn't it be funny if my lackeys managed to take you back to headquarters?} Loki inquired.  
  
{I see no humor in this,} Bill replied coldly. {Let me out of here.}  
  
{And why would I do that?} Loki asked with a sadistic smile.  
  
{Unlike you, I shift for a reason,} Bill snapped. {For example, I'm in Pikachu's body to help a young man reach his destiny!}  
  
{Oh blah, blah, blah...} Loki rolled his eyes with absolutely no enthusiasm. {You really ARE a goody-two-shoes. I mean, can you get any closer to a Sailormoon episode than that? Next you'll be telling me that good always prevails over evil...}  
  
{It does.}  
  
{I didn't ask you.}  
  
Bill sighed. {I don't have time for this!}  
  
{Hmm... I'll tell you what,} Loki finally said. {I'll let you out.}  
  
Bill was caught off guard by this and remained silent.  
  
{On one condition,} Loki added.  
  
{Oh boy, here we go...} Bill curled up at the bottom of the cage and listened to Loki.  
  
{I'll let you out... If you teach me how to control shifting.}  
  
Bill looked up sharply, startled and flustered. {I... I... Surely there is something else you want!}  
  
{I'll let you out... If you teach me how to control shifting,} Loki repeated slowly.  
  
{Alright,} Bill responded as he sat up. {But I have my own condition. I'll teach you how to control your shifts, if you let me out AND allow me to complete my mission without any further interference from your lackeys.}  
  
{For control, I'll agree to your terms,} Loki said as he extended one blue limb. {Now, we have a deal, right?}  
  
Bill reached through the bars of the cage and grasped what would have been Loki's hand. {Yes.}  
  
Loki smiled and put the cage upright, so that the lock faced him. He then went to dig through "his" teammates' possessions (luckily, they were busy having a victory breakfast outside) until he found a set of keys. He tested each one in the pad lock until it opened with a click. The cage door swung open, freeing Bill.  
  
{I can't believe I'm saying this right now, but thank you,} he said with a bow.  
  
{Don't thank me until you keep up your end of the bargain,} Loki reminded him.  
  
{Right. Follow me.}  
  
Dropping to all fours once again, Bill made his way to the front door... before realizing he was too short to reach the knob.  
  
{Allow me...} Loki reached up, turned the knob, and pushed the door open.  
  
The two snuck around the partying Rockets and into the forest.  
  
~~~  
  
{Well...?}  
  
Bill and Loki had entered a clearing, far from the Rockets. The Pikachu stopped, sat, and sighed.  
  
{I'm a man of my word, Loki,} Bill said. {I'll teach you here.}  
  
He turned around to face the Wobbuffet.  
  
{Close your eyes.}  
  
{That's a stupid thing to say, McKenzie!} Loki snapped as he pointed to his Wobbuffet face with nearly closed eyes.  
  
{Just shut up and do what I say,} Bill instructed with a streak of irritation. He didn't want to do this, but he wasn't one to break a promise, no matter who it was to.  
  
There was a period of silence.  
  
{Concentrate on preventing yourself from shifting...}  
  
{What?}  
  
{Loki!}  
  
{Alright!}  
  
Bill sighed again and waited.  
  
An hour passed before either of them spoke.  
  
{McKenzie, how will I know if this works?} Loki finally inquired.  
  
{You'll know.}  
  
{But I... Oh god!}  
  
Loki groaned as a red light surrounded him. It increased and decreased in brightness as he screamed and clutched his chest. Bill watched calmly and silently until the red light died about twenty minutes later. Loki gasped for breath for a few moments before speaking.  
  
{What the hell...?} Loki muttered.  
  
{Congradulations,} Bill said with a slightly melancholy tone. {You now control when you shift out. If you ever want to, simply concentrate on leaving your body, and it should happen.}  
  
{What about where I shift to?} Loki inquired, suspicious as he thought that Bill was leaving something out.  
  
{I don't... quite know how to do that yet,} Bill answered.  
  
{I think that's bullshit.}  
  
Bill didn't reply to this. Instead, he simply said, {Now, about the other half of your part...}  
  
{I haven't forgotten,} Loki assured him as he began walking out of the clearing.  
  
~~~  
  
"What the hell were you THINKING!?" Ziggy snapped.  
  
Bill didn't answer. Instead, he wove around trees, hoping he'd find Ash and the party (or at least the road) as Ziggy passed through the same trees, following him as she blew off steam.  
  
"Weren't you worried about Loki NOT finding out about this!?"  
  
{I couldn't just break my promise to him,} Bill replied softly. {I needed to get out of that cage, but he only wanted the information I knew. So, I gave it to him.}  
  
"After all he did to you, you're STILL an honest little bastard..." Ziggy shook her head. "You're a MAJOR idiot, Bill."  
  
{It had to be done.}  
  
"No, it didn't!"  
  
{I had to get free somehow.}  
  
"You're a smart guy! Why didn't you think of another way!?"  
  
{As a hologram, you don't understand the limit of options I had while being trapped inside that cage. If you were in my situation, but still a hologram, you would simply pass through the bars to solve the problem, am I correct?}  
  
"Well... Yes..."  
  
{My point exactly.}  
  
"But what now? Loki knows what you know, and now all your stupid little fears involving Team Rocket will come true."  
  
{It would have happened sooner or later anyways.}  
  
Ziggy growled. "Humans are impossible!"  
  
Bill shrugged. Ziggy growled.  
  
"You're going to be the end of the both of us..."  
  
{You're starting to sound a bit like my father.}  
  
Ziggy growled. "I'm really not in the mood for this."  
  
Bill stopped. {Then go.}  
  
Ziggy stared at him for awhile before growling again and vanishing.  
  
{I'll never understand her,} Bill commented under his breath.  
  
~~~  
  
He continued to walk partially aimlessly until, finally, he heard a voice in the distance.  
  
"Pikachu! Hey! Where are you!?"  
  
"Ash, that's not helping!"  
  
Bill was relieved upon hearing Ash and Misty's voices. He ran through the forest, following the sounds of their bickering until at last he managed to spot them as well as Brock and Togepi. He let out a cry to tell Ash he was there.  
  
"Pikachu!" Ash cried with delight, noticing the yellow rodent.  
  
Bill continued forward without worry... until a net caught him and suspended him in midair. He and the others looked up to see a Meowth hot air balloon floating in the sky, just above the trees.  
  
As they rode in the basket, Jessie and James began the motto.  
  
"Prepare for trouble!"  
  
"And make it double!"  
  
"Dey know da rest!" Meowth interrupted.  
  
"This time, we caught your little Pikachu in a electricity-absorbing net!" James announced. "Let's see what you do about that!"  
  
"Wobbuffet!" The patient Pokémon added and saluted.  
  
{Loki!} Bill shouted. {How dare you break your promise to me!}  
  
"Hey Pikachu? Who're you talking to?" Meowth inquired.  
  
"Wobbu! Wobbu!"  
  
It was at that moment that Bill realized Loki was no longer in Wobbuffet.  
  
"Bayleef! Cut the net with your Razor Leaf!"  
  
At Ash's command, the fragrant Pokémon appeared from the PokéBall Ash threw, gave an enthusiastic cry, and threw a flurry of leaves into the air, aiming at the net which held the Pikachu. The net was shredded, but the rodent didn't fall.  
  
With quick actions, Bill grabbed onto and climbed up the rope which had previously suspended the net. There was a hole in the bottom of the basket where the rope came through, and through this hole was a powerstrip in which a fan and a radio were plugged in and hooked up to a panel which was supposed to receive electricity from the wire-like ropes which previously held him.  
  
Bill reached up, touched this powerstrip, and released as much electrical energy as he could possibly give. The appliances turned on for awhile, sparked, and began to smoke just as Bill ran out of energy and dropped from the balloon. Ash caught him in time to see a large cloud of black smoke billowing out of the basket and a large explosion following.  
  
Team Rocket flew into the air, charred and shocked (excuse the pun).  
  
Just before they disappeared into a spot of light on the horizon, they cried to each other, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"  
  
"I kinda feel sorry for them," Misty commented.  
  
"Kinda," Brock and Ash agreed in unison. "But not quite."  
  
Bill smirked, sighed, and closed his eyes before shifting out.  
  
~~~  
  
"You know, if you haven't given away all that information about shifting, this wouldn't be such a bad shift."  
  
"Hold on, Ziggy. Let me wake up first..."  
  
Bill groaned, opened his eyes, and forced himself to sit up.  
  
"Using up Pikachu's energy took a bit of mine as well," Bill informed her as he held his head with his right hand.  
  
"Aww... Poor little shifter," Ziggy commented with false sympathy.  
  
He stood up slowly and began to walk away.  
  
"Wait! What are you going to do now?" Ziggy asked from the computer.  
  
Bill paused before replying. "I don't know. I just need some time to think about this."  
  
"What if..." Ziggy's gaze fell downward. "What if we don't have time?"  
  
Bill thought for a moment. "I'll deal with whatever Team Rocket tries to throw at me. So should you."  
  
"But..."  
  
Bill shook his head and proceeded up the cellar steps in silence. There was a brief pause just after he left.  
  
"Hey!" Ziggy put her hands on her hips. "He forgot to teach me about rhetorical questions!"  
  
~~~  
  
Loki made his way through the halls, followed closely behind by Oracle. He reached the laboratory in which Antiwarp was managed. He opened the door to find, once again, chaos. He took a few steps inside, but it wasn't long before Crocus had joined him.  
  
"Good afternoon, Loki, sir," she greeted. "How may I help you?"  
  
Loki glanced at his lackey and replied, "Crocus, I've found something that will take us a step closer to getting what we want out of this project."  
  
"Really, sir? What is it?"  
  
Loki grinned. "Control."  
  
***  
  
End episode 8*9*  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: I know Ziggy is part of a computer and should have been programmed to know this, but when Bill first programmed her, he was only looking for a friend and found no reason to give her an understanding of certain aspects of human life and speech, such as (as mentioned above) rhetorical questions (or of "human sayings", for that matter). However, he DID program her to understand and be able to use sarcasm, but that was just an accidental piece of coding he planned on deleting in the beta version.  
  
*2*: I'm sorta varied on Pikachu's gender. Mostly, I concider it to be a "he" because of a panel in "You Gotta Have Friends" (in Toshihiro-sama's Pikachu Shocks Back from the Dengeki Pikachuu series) in which Pikachu hugs a female Pikachu. (Or at least it LOOKS female -- but then again, males can wear flowers too, right?) Though sometimes I concider Pikachu to be a "she" due to some occurances in the anime which make it seem female... and my support of krazyshipping. (Krazyshipping. Pikachu and Meowth Love. *loves the episode "Bound for Trouble"* CUUUUTE! =D) But I guess krazyshipping could be shounen ai as well... ^_^  
  
*3*: Though the story is supposed to be set during Satoshi and Haruka's journey through Houen, I'm not familiar with the places, Pokémon (or at least ALL of them), or moves used in the Ruby/Sapphire games. So, instead, right here I'm saying that Ash is travelling to New Bark Town, headed for the Indigo Plateau to compete in the Johto League competitions.  
  
*4*: He's referring to the incident involving the Kabuto costume. Technically, Ash DID save Bill that time. I mean, think of it this way -- if the cook (who seems to be one of the few people who would have a reason to come up to a place as isolated as Bill's lighthouse) were gone for a longer period of time, and if Bill would be left alone for awhile longer after Ash came to his lighthouse, then well, could you live without food or water in a cramped space for who knows how long? Yeah, that's what I thought...  
  
*5*: Several notes on this. First off, there's no way Bill could have seen Team Rocket shoot at the mystery Pokémon. Second, some people think it was a Dragonite; others don't. (I myself vary. Jokingly, I say it was Godzilla or Barney; seriously, I say that it's either Dragonite or Missingno.) However, I refer to the silhouetted Pokémon at the end of the episode as a Dragonite, only because if I said otherwise, SOMEONE'S going to comment on Bill's intelligence. Which will then make me break out my Mallet of Doom. -_- Thirdly, yes, Ash DID do this. Watch "Mystery at the Lighthouse" again to see. ^_-  
  
*6*: Sorry about this confusing bit. It means that he was listening for something, but he didn't know what.  
  
*7*: This is a reference to "A Way Off Day Off". Team Rocket used James's Victreebell to put Tracey, Misty, and the Pokémon to sleep before they attempted to steal all of the Pokémon with suction cups attached to cables. Simple, but effective.  
  
*8*: Ah... The Paper Fan of Doom... *sighs with nostalgia* Whatever happened to Musashi and Kasumi's old arsenal? Paper fans, frying pans, mallets, shoes, hair 'dos... Man! Back in the first season, Musashi and Kasumi were wicked cool! And then... something happened... ^_^;  
  
*9*: Okie dokie! Yet another end to yet another episode! Hmm... A bit short, though. Only one page more than the currently shortest episode, Damsel in Distress. And, I dunno what to say about this one. =/ Sure, it was fun to type up (exactly half of this episode WAS typed up last night because I couldn't stop typing), but I'm sure Ash-tachi fans became a bit disappointed that I hadn't focused more on Ash, Misty, and/or Brock, rather than mostly on Pikachu and Bill. But hey, if you feel that way, then according to my plans, you'll cheer up when I do season three... ^_- (Yes, I've gotten up to season three planned as of episodes, but as of story arcs, I've got four seasons in mind. Just remember, Mai-chan doesn't believe in that thing called "a life." -_-) 


	9. Equal and Opposite: Part I

Foreword: This is the first of a two-part season finale. Well, something like a two-parter. What I mean to say is that action in this episode and the next episode will be very similar, much more similar than usual. =/  
  
Bah. Never mind. ^_^;  
  
***  
Episode 09--  
Equal and Opposite: Part I  
  
"Boss Lokov, Master Giovanni wishes to speak with you on line one," Loki's secretary informed him.  
  
Loki pushed the button on the intercom to reply to his secretary. "Thank you, Grace."*1*  
  
A button began to flash on the video phone on his desk. He hesitated. Surely, this wasn't going to be good...  
  
Click!  
  
"Lokov, where is the power you promised me?" Giovanni asked sharply.  
  
"Patience, sir," Loki replied with a slightly frightened tone. "I'm working on it..."  
  
"Patience?" Giovanni frowned. "This is something that is wearing thin in me, Lokov. It is true that you're one of my most trusted employees, but I hate it when people break their promises to me. Surely you haven't forgotten Dr. Narcissus..."  
  
Loki shuddered. He hadn't. Dr. Narcissus had promised to create a Pokémon whose power was unbelieveable and who was completely under Rocket control but came up with nothing. The day following the announcement of his failure, Narcissus mysteriously disappeared as Rocket agents took him to the Gyarados pen.  
  
"No, sir," Loki finally said. "I haven't."  
  
"Good," Giovanni responded. "I'm giving you three days. I expect success out of this Project Antiwarp, but if I don't get what I want, your little project will be completely shut down, and you... You will be out of a job."  
  
"Understood, sir," Loki replied, relieved that his punishment would be no greater than Dr. Narcissus'.  
  
"Then I'll leave you to your work," Giovanni said. "If you want to please me, it would be best to start right away."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
The screen went blank as Giovanni hung up. Loki replaced the receiver, paused for a moment, and sneered.  
  
"How the hell can I get Giovanni what he wants if no one knows whether any shifter will go into a useful Pokémon or not... Unless..." He placed his hand on his desk and began tapping it with his index finger. "Unless McKenzie was lying all along... Unless he knows more than he'll say... But how can I get him to talk?"  
  
A smile crossed Loki's lips as an idea came to mind.  
  
"What if I... tried a DIFFERENT approach...?"  
  
~~~  
  
"Sir? Bill? Are you alright?"  
  
"W-Wha...?"  
  
Bill slowly woke up, finding himself on the floor. His cook*2*, Sophie, a twenty-something, plump brunette with bright, blue eyes, had knelt down beside him, nudging him a bit.  
  
"Sir? Are you alright?" she repeated.  
  
Bill sat up and held his head for a moment. "Yes, yes. I'm fine. Just a bit... tired, that's all."  
  
"Sir, do you need to see a doctor?"  
  
"No, no..." He stood up. "I'm fine. I've just been working hard on a few of my last projects. Harder than I thought, I suppose."  
  
Well, technically, he was telling the truth. Alongside his research, he's had three or four shifts (part of one of his many projects) within the past four days.  
  
"Then, maybe you should take a vacation," Sophie suggested before giving him a shy glance. "Speaking about vacations..."  
  
"You're excused," Bill replied calmly, knowing very well what she wanted.  
  
"Thank you, sir!" Sophie said with a bow. "You're very kind! I'll be leaving in a week, by the way..."  
  
"I thank you for the compliment and your service," Bill replied before sighing. "And please... MUST you call me 'sir'?"  
  
"Sorry, sir -- er, Bill."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
~~~  
  
"You know, Sophie's right," Ziggy commented later on. "You really DO need a vacation. You look seriously overworked."  
  
"'Overworked' isn't part of my vocabulary."  
  
"It should be. This could be dangerous to your health."  
  
Bill pretended to be shocked. "Ziggy Alpha... Concerned about my health? Well, this is a first!"  
  
"Hey, I'm allowed to be worried about you!" Ziggy told him sharply. She paused for a moment and swiftly added, "If you're dead, then I'll have no one to talk to."  
  
"And I'm sure this would be absolutely horrible," Bill responded with a bit of sarcasm.  
  
"Damn straight it would be!" Ziggy snapped. "Do you have any idea how BORING it was for the ten years you forgot about me!?"  
  
Bill chuckled and smiled as he looked at his hands, stopped at the keyboard. "Ziggy, Ziggy... It's your personality that makes my day... interesting."  
  
"Well, glad to hear it!" Ziggy replied happily.  
  
Bill started to snicker. He couldn't help himself.  
  
"HEY! That was an insult, wasn't it!?" Ziggy began to fume.  
  
"Forget I said it," Bill said to her as he continued to laugh.  
  
Ziggy folded her arms and glared at him. "Hey! I have feelings too, you know!"  
  
"Of course I know. I wrote the codes for them." Bill shrugged. "I might have slipped in a few typos. You have so many flaws in you that it's a wonder you're not human."  
  
Ziggy growled. "Hey! Do you HAVE to be a smart mouth!?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Obviously, Ziggy wasn't liking how any of this conversation was going. "You know, if I were real, I would have smacked you right about now!"  
  
Bill grinned.  
  
Ziggy growled again. "You've got a shift. Hey, when you get back, I want to have a word with you, Mr. Congeniality!"  
  
"Alright, Ziggy. Alright."  
  
Bill gave her a smile and proceeded to shift out.  
  
"Why do I even like him!?" Ziggy asked herself as she followed him.  
  
~~~  
  
When Bill awoke, he found himself outside the lighthouse, on the beach. He didn't understand this. After all, he HAD shifted... right?  
  
He looked down at his hands and found a pair of small, sky-blue blue paws. His feet were the same, and behind him was a long, blue tail ending in a fin and decorated with dark blue ridges.  
  
{I must be inside Vaporeon,} he thought aloud and referring to one of his own Pokémon. {Ziggy!}  
  
"Well, this is convenient," Ziggy commented as she appeared. "You didn't get TOO far..."  
  
{Ziggy, what happened?}  
  
"What do you mean what happened? You shifted."  
  
{I know! But... Wait... What would my mission be this time...?}  
  
Ziggy sighed, and her expression changed quickly from happy-go-lucky to grim. Bill shivered upon seeing her face like this.  
  
{Ziggy, I don't like that look on your face...}  
  
Ziggy sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you. It's not going to be easy or pretty."  
  
{And this makes it far different from any other mission I went through?}  
  
"You've got a point." Ziggy nodded. "But this time, you see... Loki... He's getting desperate. He wants information from you that you don't have. How to completely control shifting. How to control when a shifter goes in and out, where they go, and more importantly, into what they go."  
  
{I told him I don't know how to do that sort of thing!}  
  
"He doesn't believe you!" Ziggy sighed again. "You're going to be in deep trouble. Loki's coming in a Pokémon's body, and he's planning on catching you -- meaning your human self -- off guard by attacking you with an ambush. You've got to protect yourself from his attack. Zero says that Loki will attack once, but you, inside Vaporeon, will ward him off. But after that, he'll make a deal with a psychic Pokémon. A powerful one. Zero says you can move directly to another Pokémon if you need to, but otherwise..."  
  
Ziggy trailed off. A moment of silence followed.  
  
{Which psychic Pokémon will Loki shift into?}  
  
"She won't tell me," Ziggy replied. "She started crying after the prediction when I asked her. All she said was... You can try to fight, but there's a good chance that you'll..."  
  
{...I'll... what...?}  
  
"There's a good chance that you'll still die. In Loki's second attack, there's a... very large probability that he'll... kill you."  
  
More silence.  
  
"I'm sorry, Bill. You probably didn't want to hear that."  
  
He shook his head. {It was probably best to let me know.}  
  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
Bill thought for a moment. {In the first attack, I'll do what I always do. However, the second... I don't really know...} He paused for a moment. {How soon will he be coming?}  
  
"He's already here."  
  
Startled at the new voice, Bill looked up to see Oracle. She grinned and gave him a small wave.  
  
"Bonjour, kiddie," she said before turning to Ziggy. "Hello, Creampuff! Long time, no see!"  
  
{Creampuff?}  
  
Ziggy held air in her cheeks so they puffed out.*3* "I'm not a creampuff!"  
  
"Sure thing, Creampuff," Oracle replied with a smirk.  
  
{I'd hate to be rude, but who on Earth is this, and how can she see you, Ziggy!?}  
  
"I'll answer that one," Oracle replied quickly. "My name is Oracle. I'm the holographic informational aid programmed specifically to guide the shifters of Project Antiwarp, subdivision of Team Rocket. I can see all shifters and watchers*4*, so it isn't that hard to see something as big as Creampuff over there."  
  
Ziggy growled.  
  
"I couldn't help but overhear your pathetic attempt to save your little boyfriend, Creampuff," Oracle added.  
  
Bill blinked with a blank look on his face. {...Boyfriend...?}  
  
Oracle continued, "I just want to let you know that you didn't help him a bit. Master Loki was lucky enough to snag a close body that'll surely blow both your lover boy's body and mind..." She paused to chuckle a bit at her coming pun. "...Out of the water."  
  
"He's not my boyfriend, and mind your own business!" Ziggy snapped. "Besides, Bill can take on whatever YOUR rookie has to throw at him!"  
  
"My guy isn't a rookie..." Oracle winked. "Rookies, like your shifter, are losers."  
  
"Oh yeah!?"  
  
"Definately!"  
  
As Ziggy and Oracle gave each other death glares, Bill sat down, rolled his eyes, and sighed. Obviously, this was going to take awhile.  
  
~~~  
  
A half hour went passed, and up at the lighthouse, a Haunter snuck in and began looking around. Luck was with Loki, who occupied Haunter, as of shifting that day, but he wanted to see if he had luck in finding what he wanted as well. He passed through walls, trying to find what he was looking for, but found nothing. Nothing in the main hall, nothing in the living quarters, and nothing in the cellar.  
  
He began to release his frustration by firing Night Shade at random places throughout the cellar.  
  
One of them, though Loki didn't notice*5*, struck Bill's body.  
  
~~~  
  
Outside, a searing pain went through Bill. He trembled and let out a small scream as he hunched over and shut his eyes tightly.  
  
Ziggy gasped. "Bill! Are you alright!?"  
  
{Something just happened... at the lighthouse...}  
  
Upon hearing this, Oracle grinned. Before disappearing, she muttered, "My work here is done..."  
  
Ziggy knelt beside him. "Really? How can you tell?"  
  
{Even if... I'm outside my body... I can still feel... whatever happens to it,} Bill explained slowly before taking a shaky breath. {Something struck me. I think Loki might already be there...}  
  
"Can you get up?"  
  
He stood and nodded. {I'll be fine. I was caught off guard, that's all.} He began running on all fours to the lighthouse. {Hurry! We don't have much time!}  
  
Ziggy nodded and followed.  
  
~~~  
  
It wasn't too hard getting into the lighthouse. Bill simply knocked the door open with a move he had taught Vaporeon a few years before, Surf. The hard part was still ahead, and he knew this.  
  
The first place he looked was where he had left his body. He entered the cellar and looked around, shuddering slightly upon seeing his own body lay limp on the floor, slightly battered.*6*  
  
He found nothing.  
  
{Was it all just part of my imagination...?}  
  
Ziggy shrieked in surprise behind him.  
  
"Bill! Look out!"  
  
He looked over his shoulder a second too late. Dark energy that made up a Night Shade attack slammed into Vaporeon's body, sending him flying across the room, stopping only when he slammed into the wall. Weakly, he stood back up and faced the Haunter floating in mid air.  
  
{Loki...}  
  
Oracle appeared beside the Haunter. "That's right, kiddies!"  
  
{Great job distracting Alpha, by the way,} Loki commented.  
  
"Thank you, Master!" Oracle replied happily.  
  
{Unfortunately, you've also distracted what I really want...}  
  
Loki floated toward Bill with one ghostly hand slightly ahead. At that moment, Bill attempted to defend himself by using an Ice Beam. It hit Loki for a bit, but he vanished before the full attack struck him.*7*  
  
"Where did he go!?" Ziggy gasped.  
  
{That's what I would like to know,} Bill muttered as he looked around.  
  
Oracle gave them a devious look. "Watch..."  
  
Suddenly, Bill felt something grab him by the neck and lift him up. He struggled to free himself, just as Loki reappeared. Ziggy stood and watched her best friend dangle, unable to help him because she couldn't touch either of the shifters, nor anything else, for that matter.  
  
{I want to ask you to join us,} Loki said.  
  
Bill froze. {What? Join... you? Are you out of your mind!?}  
  
{We were once allies and friends, Bill!} Loki pointed out. {Why won't you join Team Rocket and work by my side again? I'm willing to forgive you for what happened to Tess.}  
  
{Friends?} Bill scoffed. {This is coming from the same man who not only blamed me for something I never did*8* but also once left me behind to die in a Fearow attack!}  
  
{I was going to go back!} Loki replied. {Besides, you're only exaggerating! The attack wasn't THAT bad!}  
  
{I was in the hospital under critical condition for a week and a half after that!!}  
  
{And I apologize for that. Will you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?}  
  
Bill glared at him. {You've accused me of killing someone I cared deeply about, AND you left me to die... And NOW, after all these years, you expect me to forgive you and join an evil organization which goes against every code of basic ethics I live by!?} At this point, sarcasm became present in his voice. {Oh, sure, Loki. I'll forgive you and denounce my own moral values to go along with what is surely just another twisted and shallow scheme you came up with to get ahead in life.}  
  
{Well, you don't have to be so damn sarcastic about it.}  
  
Bill growled. {But it's the truth, isn't it?}  
  
{No, I wasn't kidding when I said I want you to join Team Rocket,} Loki answered.  
  
{Give me one decent reason why I should.}  
  
{Power,} Loki replied simply. {The day I joined Team Rocket was the day I was granted a bit of authoritive power. And with it, I'm sure I can get some of the things I've always dreamed about. My lackeys love me, and they'll do anything for me.}  
  
Bill rolled his eyes.  
  
{Don't you see, Bill?} Loki continued. {With your intelligence and a little bit of Rocket power, you can get anything you want! Women, Pokémon, labs, money...}  
  
{And a big ego like yours?}  
  
{Like I said before, McKenzie,} Loki sneered, slowly getting more and more irritated. {You're a spunky little bastard. Unfortunately, sometimes it's not wise to be spunky.}  
  
{In some cases, yes,} Bill agreed. {Loki, as of type alignments, ghost and water Pokémon have neither disadvantages nor advantages over each other, and neither do the attacks of a wild Haunter or my Vaporeon. May I ask where you found Haunter?}  
  
{A trainer who just came from Lavender had caught him a month and a half ago, why?}  
  
{Ah. So your host would be around level twenty-one to thirty, am I correct?}  
  
{What are you getting at?}  
  
{It's not wise to use a level thirty Pokémon to challenge a Pokémon at level sixty-three.}  
  
At this, Bill struck Loki with Surf at full-blast. The force sent Loki flying into one wall and Bill slamming into the opposite wall. Both stumbled to the floor, groaned, and slowly and weakly got up. Bill grinned at his opponent.  
  
{Ready for round two?} he asked with a smirk.  
  
Loki snarled. {Unlike you, I know when to give up!}  
  
There was a flash of red light as Loki released a confused Haunter.  
  
"You haven't heard the last of us," Oracle snapped before softening in expression, winking, and waving to Ziggy. "Au revoir, Creampuff."  
  
As she vanished, Ziggy pulled down her right eyelid and jeered in return. "Bitch queen!"  
  
{Now that that's over...}  
  
Bill went over and touched his human body with a paw. A spark of silver light transferred from Vaporeon into his human self. Slowly, he woke up and sat up.  
  
"Now I can concentrate on Loki's next attack," Bill said before he stroked Vaporeon's head. "Thank you, my friend." He looked up at Ziggy. "Still no further word from Zero?"  
  
"I'm afraid not, Bill," Ziggy replied.  
  
"Hmm..." He stood up. "If I don't know which Pokémon Loki will be using, then I don't have much to help me prepare. All I know is that I should assume the body of a dark or bug Pokémon, but without known level, I could be planning on shifting into a Pokémon that puts me at a disadvantage due to a dangerously lower level."  
  
Ziggy nodded.  
  
"I think I still need time to think about this," he muttered as he took a PokéBall from one of the flat surfaces in the room and recalled Vaporeon.  
  
"Time is what you don't have," Ziggy commented.  
  
Bill nodded and began to walk up the stairs and out of the cellar. "This is unfortunately true..."  
  
~~~  
  
"Sir, Crocus had left a message while you were out."*9*  
  
"Go ahead, Grace."  
  
"They've located Agent Mondo."  
  
"So?"  
  
Loki was still in a bad mood after having lost to Bill the day before. He sat in his darkened office and spoke with Grace, who only gave him bad news after this.  
  
"What's so important about that?" he asked his secretary. "Agent Mondo is no longer useful to us."  
  
"Sir, just ask Master Giovanni yourself. He's on line one."  
  
Loki's hand travelled to the flashing button on his video phone. He pressed it and braced himself.  
  
"Lokov!" Giovanni addressed harshly. "Are you aware that one of your experiments had recently assumed Mewtwo's body and completely leveled Team Rocket's main office in Saffron City!?"  
  
'Oh shit,' Loki cursed to himself before speaking aloud. "No, sir. I'm sorry, sir."  
  
"Because of this, I have lost all patience with Project Antiwarp," Giovanni told him coldly.  
  
"But sir--!"  
  
"THEREFORE, I have decided to abandon the project and fire all those involved."  
  
"Sir! Please! Just one more day!"  
  
"Including you, Lokov."  
  
"Sir!"  
  
"The laboratory used for Project Antiwarp will be closed indefinately. You and your scientists have twenty-four hours to pick up your things and leave."  
  
"Sir!" Loki pleaded. "Please! Just give us all one more chance!"  
  
"If more shifters are created," Giovanni snapped, "then more will lose control over themselves, just like your Agent Mondo had. I cannot risk it. Besides, I have not yet seen the results you had promised me."  
  
"Sir! I just need more time!"  
  
"I'm sorry, Lokov. Please leave."  
  
At that, Giovanni hung up.  
  
Loki growled. "If that ass hole had only told me what I needed to know, Giovanni would have exactly what he wanted by now..."  
  
Just then, the building shook. The wall behind Loki was blasted apart, and a Mewtwo had glided in.  
  
{You... You did this to me!}  
  
Loki jumped over his desk and continued to back into the opposite wall. Mewtwo, inhabited by Agent Mondo, hovered over and grabbed Loki by his collar.  
  
{Now, I'll destroy YOU!}  
  
Just then, the boy shrieked. His time inside Mewtwo was up. A light flashed and vanished, leaving a dazed Mewtwo.  
  
Seeing this as an opportunity, Loki smirked and grabbed Mewtwo's arm. A blood-red light transferred from him into the genetic Pokémon. A few moments later, Loki's human body collapsed onto the floor as the Mewtwo examined his hands and grinned.  
  
{With this, I'll finish McKenzie off*10* and redeem myself in Master Giovanni's eyes...}  
  
~~~  
  
Ziggy went into hologram form and proceeded through the lighthouse for Bill. She found him in his bedroom, pacing back and forth, deep in thought. She cleared her throat, causing him to jump and turn around, startled at her sudden appearance.  
  
"Ziggy! ...You scared me. For a second, I thought you were..." His voice trailed off. "I'd hate to admit it, but..."  
  
"Go on," she urged. "Ziggy won't tell anyone."  
  
He smiled weakly at her. "I'd hate to admit it, but I'm a bit scared. I don't know what Loki will use to attack me or what I can do to defend myself. I don't know if my Umbreon is strong enough. I'm afraid I haven't trained it well enough."  
  
"Have confidence, Bill," Ziggy said. "I'm sure no matter what he's in, you can come up and find a way to stop him."  
  
"I hope you're right."  
  
"I know I'm right." Ziggy gave him a smile. "Now, get some sleep. You need as much rest as you can get to stay alert and shift out at a moment's notice."  
  
"You're right," Bill replied with a nod and a grim expression. "However... What if Loki comes while I'm asleep?"  
  
"Then I'll find a way to wake you up," Ziggy suggested. "Don't worry about it. Just get some sleep. Heaven knows you need a bit. Go!"  
  
Bill sighed and nearly flopped on his back on the bed. "Now that you mention it, I AM a bit tired... Thank you, Ziggy."  
  
"No problem, Bill."  
  
She stayed until his eyes closed. A few moments after she was sure he was fast asleep, she leaned in to kiss him on the forehead before leaving.*11*  
  
~~~  
  
In the cellar, Ziggy watched security footage for hours before yawning, sitting in her program window with her legs crossed, and resting her head in her folded arms.  
  
"This is really boring," she commented as she yawned.  
  
A few minutes later, she was fast asleep.  
  
Beside her program box, there were four blocks, each with transmissions from each security camera in the lighthouse. One, which was positioned above the door, began to show a curious scene. One of the two doors was blown off its hinges, and a dark figure made its way inside. It looked up at the camera with glowing, blue eyes, just before the scene blacked out before turning into a block of static.  
  
All this while Ziggy slept on...  
  
~~~  
  
Loki found it much too easy to enter the lighthouse. However, he wasn't quite done yet. Using Mewtwo's powers to his advantage, he easily located his target and made his way upstairs and stood in front of the closed door.  
  
It's strange, how sometimes people can sense danger before it actually comes to them. On the other side of the door, it was because of this awareness of the coming darkness that Bill's eyes shot open. He sat up and took in a shaky breath, as if the room were colder than it actually was.  
  
He threw his legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood up.  
  
"Loki..." He whispered as his eyes drifted to the door.  
  
The door was knocked open and fell to the floor with a bang. Behind it stood the Mewtwo.  
  
Bill took one look at the Pokémon. He didn't know what it was*12*, but he knew it was strong... and that something horrible was going to come involving this.  
  
{Yes...} Loki hissed maliciously. {I can feel your fear, and it's irresistable...}  
  
"Ziggy!"  
  
{She can't help you. No one can now.}  
  
Bill began to tremble. "What do you want?"  
  
{I've lost everything, McKenzie,} Loki informed him with narrow eyes. {It first started when you made me lose Tess. Whether you say you didn't kill her or not, I'll never forgive you for standing by to watch her die!}  
  
At this, a blue aura lit up slightly around Loki before fading. It was during this that a pain shot up through Bill's left arm. He held it as Loki continued.  
  
{Then, you abandoned me!}  
  
"YOU abandoned ME," Bill replied softly.  
  
Apparently, Loki didn't want to hear this, and the pain grew again in Bill's arm. He would have shifted out by then, but he feared that whatever he went into wouldn't be enough to stop Loki.  
  
{And now, I lose my job and everything else I live for along with Project Antiwarp, my ticket to a rise in the Team Rocket employee ladder, and my only explanation is...}  
  
Loki stopped abruptly. Suddenly, the pain spread to all parts of Bill's body. He screamed for a moment before the pain died down.  
  
{...You.}  
  
"Have you ever stopped to think that maybe YOU were your own problem all along?" Bill snapped. "If you weren't so blind by your own egotism and jealousy, then perhaps you would have had a better life!"  
  
Perhaps he shouldn't have said that.  
  
Loki glared at him. The pain grew once more. Bill stumbled forward but caught himself and weakly remained standing.  
  
{I don't really care if you think I'm the problem or not,} Loki said. {Either way, seeing you die will make me a hell of a lot happier.}  
  
"But it won't make things better," Bill told him. "Killing me won't help your life; it will just push you into even more trouble. Please, Loki! Stop now! Go back to your true body, start over with a fresh, honest start, and you might be able to find true happiness!"  
  
Loki stopped. {Of course! I get it all now! It's so simple... yet beautiful! Yes, I will denounce my evil ways!}  
  
Bill sighed... just before Loki, using Mewtwo's telekinetic powers, threw him into a wall with great force.  
  
{What? You actually thought I'd be that sappy?}  
  
Bill groaned weakly. He tried to get up, but found that he couldn't. In fact, he couldn't move at all. This was most likely because of another one of Mewtwo's powers.  
  
He had no other choice but to shift.  
  
'Zero... If you can hear me, please help me,' he pleaded silently. 'If there is one Pokémon that can stop Loki, whisper its name to my heart and help me find it. Please, Zero... I need you...'  
  
He closed his eyes and proceeded to shift out.  
  
~~~  
  
Zero watched from an image created by her magic in the waters of the lake. Behind her stood a tall, cloaked figure with a white Sneasel standing next to him.*13* The image rippled and faded away.  
  
"Lady Aigori, do you have instructions for us?" the cloaked figure inquired.  
  
Zero stood up and turned around a bit while still looking at both the figure and his Sneasel over her shoulder.  
  
"You are aware that Bill is a special young man, am I right?" she inquired.  
  
"Yes, m'lady," both (yes, both) owner and Pokémon replied.  
  
"And you are aware of the effects of his destiny, correct?"  
  
"Yes, m'lady."  
  
"This Loki..." Zero's gaze returned to the waters. "Though he will try to destroy Bill, he will fail. However, Bill needs enough time to escape and to reach a host and return to vanquish Loki. At this point, Father Time is not on his side. That's where you come in. Apollo, I want you to shift into one of Bill's Pokémon to keep Loki at bay long enough for Bill to find a host and return. Can you do that?"  
  
Apollo grinned from under his cloak and nodded. "M'lady, I specialize in diversions."  
  
Zero turned around completely with a solemn gaze. "Please, Apollo. I'm begging you. Help Bill protect himself."  
  
"You can count on us, Lady Aigori!" The Sneasel saluted.  
  
Zero smiled and nodded. "Thank you."  
  
The cloaked figure shifted out with a flash of gold light as the Sneasel followed by vanishing.  
  
Zero knelt back down beside the waters and touched the surface. She watched as an image rippled back into view, and she kept watching to see where the spark of silver light went.  
  
"We can't afford to lose him," Zero muttered to herself.  
  
The spark began to descend upon a Pokémon.  
  
"Good luck, Bill..."  
  
~~~  
  
To be continued.  
  
***  
  
End episode 9*14*  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: Reference to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Bueller fans, can you guess who I've just made a reference to? ^_^  
  
*2*: It's about time someone mentioned her, eh? ^_^; (No, she doesn't appear anywhere. I just made her up based on the claim that she does exist. =/)  
  
*3*: This is actually a pun. See, in Japanese, "purin" means "creampuff," and anime Purin (aka Jigglypuff) puffs up whenever (s)he gets angry (specifically, when everyone falls asleep during one of the poor thing's performances). So, whenever Ziggy "puffs up" her face (kinda like Tsukino Usagi did a few times on Sailormoon) when being called a creampuff, it's really a Purin joke. =)  
  
*4*: I don't know whether or not I've mentioned this before, but "watcher" refers to one of the holograms, i.e. Ziggy, which guide a shifter. I probably did, but can't remember. I really don't want to go back through and read eight chapters' worth of footnotes... _  
  
*5*: I really can't say why Loki didn't notice Bill. If you recall in Present, Past, and Future Sight, Zero said that a shifter can see through the veil that hides another shifter. I dunno; I really didn't think that part through much. I suppose you can say that Loki never bothered to look down to find what he was looking for. ^_^;  
  
*6*: Wouldn't you do the same thing if you saw yourself lying on the floor, kinda like you're dead? My personal reaction would be something along the lines of, "HOLY CRAP!!", but I'm trying to keep Bill in character, meaning calm and cool. Or at least he is most of the time... =/  
  
*7*: It's hard to explain this without looking at an example. Let's say that getting hit with the full attack would have taken five seconds. If Loki managed to get away before getting hit by the full attack, he might have only endured one second. Only what REALLY happened was a bit longer, but I'm guessing you get the point by now.  
  
*8*: He means he never killed (nor was a reason for the suicide of) Tess. Loki, of course, never believed him.  
  
*9*: Out meaning physically out of the office, as in going to the restroom or out to lunch or something. Loki wasn't on a shift here. You can tell by reading further.  
  
*10*: Yeah, I know I've turned Loki into an evil ass. (When I tried to create an evil antagonist for the story, I kinda went overboard... ^_^;) If you really want to understand why Loki hates Bill enough to kill him, check out Sailormoon for an example. See, in the original (meaning BEFORE DiC got their hands on it), Queen Beryl was once a sage on Earth who had fallen in love with the prince of the Earth, Endymion, aka Mamoru, dubbed as Darien. Unfortunately, Endymion had already fallen in love with the moon princess, Princess Serenity, and there was no way he could love anyone else. So, jealousy (and evilness) took poor Beryl over, and she destroyed the Moon Kingdom in an attempt to get rid of Princess Serenity so she could have Endymion all to herself. Now, how does this apply to Warp Series? Well, think of it this way: Loki (identified with Queen Beryl) became jealous and angry when Tess (our story's Prince Endymion) fell in love with Bill (the Princess Serenity of this story... ouch, that's a scary thought...). And, of course, the fact that Bill could only stand by and watch as Tess jumped off a bridge really didn't help his relationship to Loki. ^_^;  
  
*11*: Hmm... Tess, Zoe, or Ziggy? *holds up a sign that reads: "I support datashipping -- Yay for Ziggy's crush!"* I'm sorry, but it IS kinda fun to write about her crush on Bill... ^_^ (For those of you who hadn't noticed this, even after the fourth episode, um... Wow. O.o;;;)  
  
*12*: Though I'm aware that there's an unexplained Mewtwo carving on one of the doors (watch "Mystery at the Lighthouse" again and look very closely when the doors are opening -- you can see it a second time, but I can't remember when at this point... o.o;), Bill's not supposed to recognize Mewtwo. Not one (living) person in the anime knows about Mewtwo except for Giovanni. And, okay, Ash-tachi, plus Luna, after that new Mewtwo movie released last summer... Mewtwo Returns, right? ^_^;  
  
*13*: Including the white Sneasel in the story is a thank you for the many good reviews sent in by Light Sneasel. *lifts up her glass to toast him* Here's to you, LS-kun!  
  
*14*: Not too bad of an episode, in my opinion. Leaves you with a rather nasty cliffhanger, but don't worry, I won't leave you hanging. Unless, of course, I... o.o; *goes outside to knock on every piece of wood she can find* Anywho, Apollo was supposed to first appear in the third season, but I thought it'd be fun to put him in here. Or maybe it might not be fun because I've left you wondering how Apollo could be a shifter without being a member of Warp OR Antiwarp. Then again, I've left you guessing about Zero, and still no one has found out what she (meaning, her omniscence) was a pun on. (Sorry, LS-kun. Good guesses though. ^_^) And just for the record, this beat my earlier record for episode which took the least amount of time to write. It had formerly been four days (with Trading Spaces), but this just barely beat my old record with a mere three days. (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.) Go me! =D 


	10. Equal and Opposite: Part II

Foreword: It's that time again! We've reached another multiplicative of five, so for this week's foreward, I'll reach into the review box and pull out more reviews to reply to.  
  
First and foremost, once again, I thank those of you who gave me words of encouragement and praise. Your words are basically the reason why I'm still writing about the adventures of Masaki-tachi. (Heck, if it weren't for the lot of you, I'd have yet another plot bunny to send to the bunny farm... o_o;)  
  
Secondly, replies to individual reviews:  
  
To Light Sneasel:  
  
-Reply to the review for episode five: Um... Sorry, but Zero's not a reference to time or Lord of the Rings (as I said before officially closing episode nine). But I'll give you a box of cybercakes and some Pokémoney anyways, just because you're nice. (My cybercandy mysteriously disappeared. And by the way, yes, we can all use a reservation for a copy of Pokémon Advance. *smacks her head on her desk for spending the rest of her money on Yu-gi-oh! cards and manga* I need a job... ;_;)  
  
Anywho, it never crossed my mind that Suicune only appears to pure-hearted people. (I thought it was only Ho-oh when I wrote that. I guess I forgot that all legendaries are pretty much like that. ^_^;) It wasn't a major plot point, but I suppose you can interpret it as being a symbol of Bill's character.  
  
And yes, it's unfair that poor Bill-sama is being blamed for Tess's death, even after all these years, but Loki DID love her, and he WAS jealous and angry that she didn't return that love (once again pointed out in episode nine). Just remember kids, love triangles piss people off.  
  
By the way, your skill at guessing still impresses me. ^_^  
  
-For episode six: I never actually realized that plot hole until you pointed it out. O_o; Well, the only explanation to the fact that Mondo found Bill is that, after Mondo randomly shifted into Pidgey, he overheard Bill talking to himself. And if you don't buy that... er... It's a plot hole. What else can I say? ^_^;;  
  
-For episode seven: I know it's a bit late (I decided to hold this off until now), but get well soon, buddy! ^_^  
  
-For episode eight: *makes a mental note to finish reading at least one of his stories* ... o.o;  
  
As for your comments about the anime... *sighs* It's a shame the writers had gotten lazy. Even the "good" episodes of Johto (good according to Dogasu of Dogasu's E-J Pokémon Page) follow a cookie-cutter format you've described. (To tell you the truth, the only reason why I'm still interested in the show -- or at least the previews Dogasu provides -- is because I still have a shred of hope that Masaki will be back... and that an episode wouldn't flat-out suck, but I suppose the two are two different subjects. ^_^;)  
  
And no true Pokémaniac can endure the wait for Ruby/Sapphire comes out. Good luck on getting your copy without the kiddies acting like Team Rocket! (Pokémon and rabid kiddies. These make me fear the day when Ruby/Sapphire hits the shelves... o.o;)  
  
And finally, I don't mind hearing gripes. It's better than being whacked in the face with a fish. (Don't ask.)  
  
-For episode nine: Once again, I apologize for the cliffhanger. (I hang out with quirky, sadistic people, so it tends to rub off.)  
  
Secondly, I've put in a lot of my plans for the third season into both Zero and the white Sneasel, so yes, I will tell, just not now.  
  
Thirdly, about shifters seeing other shifter's human selves: "Every time you shift, your body goes into hiding. No one except Ziggy, myself, or a shifter can see it."- Zero (Episode five - Present, Past, and Future Sight)  
  
Fourthly (if there is such a word), I would wait until Ruby/Sapphire comes out so I can learn a bit about the new Pokémon, but I've been evil enough just by leaving you with a cliffhanger, was I not? ^_^;  
  
To Dr. Thinker: Hmm... Thank you for the idea about having a shifter shift into a Pokémon belong to Team Twer-- er, Satoshi-tachi. (*kicks herself, knowing that she's read the Survivor: Team Twerp Style on Zelda's Rare Candy Shop one too many times* But it's so good and funny! Even if they killed Bill in a fit of cannibalism!) As for the Mewtwo idea, well... um... Do you and Light Sneasel hang out often? ^_^;  
  
Wow. That took up one and a quarter of a page. *ducks and hides before Fanfiction.net attacks her*  
  
***  
Episode 10--  
Equal and Opposite: Part II  
  
Loki stood over Bill after watching him shift out.  
  
{Damn!} he cursed. {It won't be fun unless he screams and struggles!}  
  
Loki shrugged.  
  
{Ah, well. Either way, I get him out of the way for good...}  
  
He lifted a hand and concentrated, forming a ball of blue energy around it which would soon turn into a rather strong Psychic attack.  
  
"Wait! Don't hurt him!"  
  
Loki chuckled and looked over his shoulder.  
  
{Hello, Alpha,} he greeted. {It's good that you're here. I'd love to have you watch the death of your boyfriend...}  
  
"Stop!" Ziggy cried as she stood beside the door. "Please, Loki! Don't do it!"  
  
Loki grinned. {And what would you do to stop me?}  
  
Ziggy froze. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she lowered her head.  
  
"Don't hurt him... He doesn't deserve this..."  
  
Loki simply burst out laughing. Ziggy dropped to her knees and began to cry, feeling completely useless.  
  
At this point, Loki was just about to fire an attack when a Thunderbolt hit him in the back, causing his aim to go upwards and the Psychic attack to be released into the wall a couple feet above Bill.  
  
{So, you've returned, you insolent little dog!} Loki turned around to find the Jolteon standing next to a white Sneasel. {And you brought a friend. How nice. Like it'll really save you from complete destruction, Bill!}  
  
The Jolteon chuckled. {I'm not Bill.}  
  
Loki took a step back. {Then... who are you?}  
  
{My name is Apollo,} replied the other. {That's all you need to know.} He turned to his pale Pokémon partner. {Artemis,*1* go and find Bill. I'll take care of things here.}  
  
"Are you sure?" Artemis asked cautiously.  
  
{Hurry!} Apollo snapped.  
  
Artemis nodded and left the room. Ziggy looked at Loki and Apollo, then at the door. She stood and raced out.  
  
"Wait!" she called.  
  
Artemis turned around.  
  
"I want to go with you," Ziggy told him.  
  
"Fine," Artemis replied. "Now, we'd better get going. Apollo won't last long..."  
  
As the two raced out of the lighthouse, Apollo stood his ground in the bedroom. Loki fired a Psychic attack but missed, just before Apollo fought back with Pin Missile.  
  
'Hurry!' Apollo thought as he dodged another assault.  
  
~~~  
  
From a cave along a river northwest of Cerulean crawled a pink blob known to all as the shapeshifting Pokémon, Ditto. It yawned and took in the sunlight it was so fond of, just a silver light descended from the sky and engulfed it.  
  
The light soon faded, and from inside Ditto,*2* Bill awoke.  
  
{Where am I?}  
  
He paused to look around, then began taking notice of his host's form... or perhaps slight lack thereof, if you prefer.  
  
{I admit shifting itself has been strange so far, but shifting into Ditto...?}  
  
"No time to admire your host!"  
  
Bill looked up, finding himself face to face with Artemis.  
  
{Who are you?}  
  
"No time to explain!" Ziggy added. "Come on! We'll lead you back to the lighthouse! Apollo's trying to protect you, but he definitely won't last much longer!"  
  
{Apollo?}  
  
"Never mind! We'll explain later! Come on!" Artemis urged.  
  
Bill nodded to Artemis. {It will be faster if I used Transform to turn into a flying Pokémon and have you ride on my back. Ziggy, you can transport yourself back to the lighthouse without a problem, right?}  
  
"Right," Ziggy replied with a nod.  
  
"Great! Nice plan! Just go already!" Artemis snapped. "Apollo can't protect your human body forever!"  
  
Bill gave Artemis a slight nod before he scanned the sky for a subject. When one came into view (a Pidgeotto), he used Transform to copy its form. Ziggy took this as her cue to transport out of the area as Artemis climbed on Bill's back.  
  
Remembering his lesson in flying from the time he occupied Sunny, Bill took off and was guided back to his lighthouse by Artemis.  
  
~~~  
  
{Is that all you've got!?} Apollo taunted as he avoided another Psychic attack. {Come on! Strike me at your full potential!}  
  
{I'm not stupid,} Loki snapped. {If I attacked you with full force, I won't have any energy left over to boot McKenzie into the next millenium!}  
  
{Glad you figured that out,} Apollo muttered as he fired a Thunder Wave at Loki.  
  
It hit the Mewtwo head on and caused him to become paralyzed, allowing Apollo to strike with Pin Missile. Unfortunately, after this, Loki used Recover, sparing him from defeat the next time Apollo attacked.  
  
{Damn you!} Apollo cursed in frustration as he fired another Pin Missile.  
  
Loki shook off the effects of paralysis just long enough to dodge the pins and watch them go into the wall.  
  
At this point, Ziggy appeared.  
  
{Zigurat!} Apollo looked at the hologram. {Where is my watcher? Has she found the Prime yet?}  
  
"Um... I don't know." Ziggy cocked her head. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Apollo sighed. {Has Artemis found Bill yet!?}  
  
"Oh! Of course! They're on their way back right now!"  
  
{Oooh... Then I'll have something new to play with!} Loki exclaimed as he fired a Psychic attack at Apollo.  
  
Apollo, caught off guard, endured the strike, screamed, and slumped over on his side.  
  
"Get up!" Ziggy yelled.  
  
{Don't you think I'm trying!?} Apollo snapped weakly.  
  
Loki simply laughed and loomed over Apollo. {Finished already? Aww... I wanted SOMETHING to do before McKenzie got here...}  
  
Loki prepared to use one last Psychic attack, which would obliterate Apollo. Apollo waited for it to come, unable to get up or do much else. Just when the energy was about to be fired, a volley of pins cut across the Mewtwo's arm, slashing at the skin and causing the genetic Pokémon to scream in pain and grab his bleeding arm as the energy went upwards and through the ceiling.  
  
{You cocky son of a bitch!} Loki fumed as he reached down to grab Apollo by the neck, thinking it was he who fired the round.  
  
{Why, Loki! I'm touched. I didn't know you cared...}  
  
Loki growled and looked toward the door. {McKenzie!}  
  
Sure enough, standing in the doorway, in front of a white Sneasel, was a Jolteon.  
  
Bill smirked. {You still have the option to leave.}  
  
{Why leave now when the party just got started?} Loki inquired, firing a Swift at Bill.  
  
In response, Bill shot down every star flung at him with well-aimed pins.  
  
{Besides, why should I be afraid of a weakling like you!?} Loki added as he attacked with Psychic.  
  
Bill jumped up, narrowly missing the ball of blue light. Surprised, Artemis jumped as well.  
  
{You were always a weakling, McKenzie,} Loki mocked. {I was always the star athlete, but you... you couldn't even keep up with me, even if you were literally running for your life!}  
  
{Shifting doesn't require physical human strength,} Bill replied calmly as he dodged several other attacks. {It requires a swift mind, an amount of intelligence, and strength in character.} He leapt over another attack. {Besides, physical strength doesn't matter. You can be Hercules, but you could shift into a Magikarp. Likewise, you could be a patient undergoing chemotherapy and shift into Ho-oh.}  
  
{Who said I was talking about your host?} Loki inquired as he finally stopped attacking Bill... then turned around to face his human body.  
  
Suddenly, a barrage of pins struck Loki squarely in the back. He screamed, used Recover, and turned around.  
  
{If you want to fight me, fight me fairly,} Bill told him coldly.  
  
{As you wish!}  
  
Loki smirked and struck.  
  
~~~  
  
Artemis wandered around the lighthouse, trying to find something specific. He looked into rooms, rummaged through items, shook his head, and exited.  
  
"Where does he keep it...?" he kept asking himself.  
  
The sounds of the struggle echoed through the halls. If the Prime (labeled by Zero, referring to the first shifter who hadn't received his powers at birth) were to make it out alive to fufill his destiny, he would have to defeat Loki. And this can't be done unless he stays at full HP...  
  
Artemis found himself in the cellar.  
  
"Dear god!" He gasped, looking around at the array of papers and wires coating each large, flat surface. "For someone so neat above ground, it's surprising that this looks like someone went overboard while filming the first few scenes of the Wizard of Oz!"  
  
Artemis looked through piles of random items until he found it. A spray bottle with a blue top and a blue liquid inside. This he had seen Apollo use many times.  
  
"Aha!"  
  
Artemis picked it up and examined it with a triumphant smile.  
  
"Hyper Potion..."  
  
~~~  
  
Loki fired another Swift. Bill, taking the same strategy from before, shot a round of Pin Missiles to take down the stars. Loki reacted with a Psychic attack, at which point his opponent leapt into the air, dodged the attack, and responded with a Thunderbolt. The Mewtwo used Barrier to block the attack, causing the electricity to hit the wall.  
  
"A stalemate," Ziggy gasped.  
  
{Unlikely,} Loki responded as he fired another Psychic attack.  
  
Once again, Bill dodged this. This gave Loki the opportunity he wanted, allowing him to use Swift without giving Bill the time to use Pin Missile. The Jolteon yelped and smacked into a wall due to the force. On impact, he lost his transformation and returned to his Ditto form.  
  
{So, that's your little secret,} Loki sneered as he poked the pink blob. {I admit it will be quite embarrassing to defeat a walking gelatin dessert, but a killing is a killing...}  
  
Loki prepared for a final assault. Just before he was about to strike with Psychic, Artemis jumped up suddenly, slashed the Mewtwo's face with his free claws, and landed next to Bill.  
  
"You're going to need this, kiddo," he said as he sprayed the Ditto with the blue liquid.  
  
Not long after, Bill felt his strength return.  
  
{Thank you,} he said softly.  
  
"Don't mention it," Artemis replied. "Now hurry up and get rid of this guy!"  
  
Bill nodded as an idea came into his mind.  
  
Painfully, Loki had taken his hands away from his face and away from the gashes across it. Just as he did, a Swift attack hit him full force. Loki screamed and stumbled backwards.  
  
{And you called me weak...} Bill (now in Mewtwo form) smirked as he stood up. {There is an old saying that goes, "Never underestimate the power of your enemies."}  
  
Loki growled and used Recover.  
  
{Maybe you should listen to your own advice,} Loki snarled.  
  
{Who said I wasn't?}  
  
Bill struck Loki with another Swift, just before his enemy retaliated with Psychic. The two followed a pattern of attack and dodge, hitting their adversary every so often.  
  
"I can't tell who is who anymore," Ziggy partly complained.  
  
Artemis dragged Apollo (quite literally, actually) to safety and replied, "Don't worry about it. Something tells me this will be over in a second."  
  
"I hope that when that second is over, Bill won't be the one laying on the ground and badly defeated..."  
  
"So do I, Ziggy."  
  
The attacking was now basically composed of Swift and Recover, as those two were the only decent attacks to use.*3* And when even these seemed tiresome to use, Loki smacked Bill with his tail in mid-Recover.  
  
"Hey! That's not fair!" Ziggy shouted.  
  
{Oh, I'm sorry,} Loki mockingly apologized. {Were we playing by the rules? My bad. In that case...}  
  
Loki came close to Bill and used Psychic. Bill opened his eyes and found himself slumped against the wall. Loki knelt down in front of him and grabbed him by the neck.  
  
{Is that all you've got, McKenzie?} Loki inquired. {Such a shame. I wanted a bit more in a battle...}  
  
Loki was once again about to strike when Bill used Recover, followed immediately after by a close-range Swift. Loki, however, went flying into the opposite wall. Afterwards, Loki sneered and leapt back at Bill.  
  
{It's time,} Bill said as he once again knocked Loki back with a Swift. {It ends here! Right now!}  
  
{Ends? The REAL battle is just about to start, McKenzie!}  
  
Loki stood up.  
  
{I was holding back,} Bill told him. {I didn't want to hurt you. I thought that maybe, somewhere inside, there was some part of you that is still the Lokov I knew when I was a child. I thought that maybe, now that Team Rocket has abandoned you, perhaps there was still hope for you. Still something that can turn you back into the friend I once had.}  
  
Loki lunged at him again. Once again, Bill struck with Swift and continued.  
  
{But now it has occurred to me that the Loki I used to know has died many years ago with Tess,} he said with a saddened tone. {You've betrayed me many times since then and even threatened to harm myself and those around me.}  
  
Loki laughed. {It's about time you've figured all this out!}  
  
Bill silenced him with yet another Swift.  
  
{I didn't want to hurt you before,} he stated. {But now I see that if I let you go, you will only come back to do something worse. Now that I know that you are now my enemy...} A blue aura surrounded him. {...I have no shame in what I'm about to do next.}  
  
Loki smirked. {And what could a weakling like you do to me?}  
  
Bill closed his eyes and concentrated. He brought his hands in front of his chest, close but not touching. Between them formed a ball of blue light. He opened his eyes.  
  
{Ciao, Loki.}  
  
With this, Bill released the ball of blue energy, his form of a Psychic attack, and struck at Loki. Loki, unable to use Recover in time, screamed as the energy surged through his body.  
  
A red spark flew out of Mewtwo and into the air. Just before it disappeared, Bill fired another surge of blue energy which surrounded it.  
  
With a sigh, Bill de-transformed and shifted back into his normal body.   
  
~~~  
  
A few moments later, he awoke, sat up, and held his head.  
  
"Wow," he muttered. "What a rush...!"  
  
"Okay, two things," Artemis began. "First off, what are we going to do about Mewtwo?"  
  
As if to answer that question, a Mew appeared in the room. She (or at least it appeared to be a she) bowed to the others politely and turned to Bill.  
  
{Lady Aigori wishes to congradulate you on your victory,} she stated.  
  
"Oh! Thank you," he responded with a smile.  
  
{She also wishes to compliment Apollo and Artemis on a job well done,} the Mew added.  
  
"We're only happy to serve Lady Aigori," Artemis said with a nod.  
  
{And finally, she sent me here to retrieve Mewtwo and Ditto.}  
  
Mew pushed Ditto close to Mewtwo's body before placing one paw on both of the unconscious bodies and using Teleport.  
  
There was a moment of silence before Bill finally stood up and made his way to Artemis and Apollo. He picked up the bottle of the remaining Hyper Potion and used it on his Jolteon. Immediately after, the Jolteon awoke.  
  
"Thank you for saving me," Bill said softly to Apollo. "Please, if there is anything I can do to repay you..."  
  
{Don't mention it,} Apollo interrupted. {I only save; I don't get rewards. Just like you do.}  
  
"Tell me, who are you? Where did you come from? And most importantly..." Bill paused and stared into Apollo's eyes. "How did you become a shifter? ...Are you from Antiwarp?"  
  
There was a small pause.  
  
"I'm sorry." Bill smiled slightly and bowed his head. "I have a tendancy to ask a large amount of questions."  
  
{My name is Apollo, and this is my partner and watcher, Artemis,} Apollo replied. {We are not from Antiwarp, but we cannot tell you much else yet.}  
  
With that, Apollo shifted out.  
  
"Don't worry. We're going to be your allies from now on, only a bit more mysterious," Artemis told both Ziggy and Bill. "Just think of us as your Tuxedo Masks, Sailormoon."*4*  
  
Artemis vanished.  
  
There was a brief pause.  
  
"Um... Bill?" Ziggy blinked. "What's a 'Tuxedo Mask'? And what exactly is a 'Sailormoon', for that matter?"  
  
Bill cocked his head. "To be honest with you, I have no idea."  
  
~~~  
  
The spark of red light surrounded in blue sank into Loki's body as two large men dressed in medical aide's uniforms helped him into the back of an ambulance. He gave a shriek and a maniacle laugh as he thrashed in the straightjacket placed around him.*5* The doors shut, and the two aides climbed into the front of of the vehicle and drove away.  
  
Then, all was quiet.  
  
A car pulled up to the lab just a few moments after Loki was helped away, and out of this came Dr. Crocus. She approached the door, read the notice from Giovanni pinned to the door, ripped it down, and pushed it open.  
  
She walked down the dark corridors and to the room which housed Project Antiwarp. She unlocked this door, went inside, and turned on the lights.  
  
She walked down into the center of the room.  
  
"Oracle! Report!"  
  
Oracle appeared behind Crocus.  
  
"Oracle reporting for duty, Mistress," she chirped. "If I may comment..."  
  
"And you may."  
  
"I'd like to say that not only has Lokov gone insane, he has also allowed McKenzie to use Ditto's copy of Mewtwo's powers to seal Lokov's shifting powers away from now on." Oracle chuckled. "Quite sad, don't you agree?"  
  
"Yes, Oracle," Crocus agreed. "Lokov WAS quite a disappointment. However, we're starting over. There will be more shifters around, which leaves less chances for any screw-ups. I've contacted every Rocket agent Giovanni fired due to Antiwarp, inviting them back to 'work' for us again. With my own little army of shifters, we'll not only be able to take over Team Rocket and the rest of the world, but we'll also avenge Lokov."  
  
"Hmph! Avenge Lokov?"  
  
Crocus turned to Oracle and smirked. "You're right. The bastard doesn't need avenging. Alright then. We'll only kill McKenzie if he gets in the way again."  
  
"Sounds like a good plan, Mistress."  
  
Crocus smiled. "It is."  
  
~~~  
  
"First off, that 'ciao' you said to Loki," Ziggy addressed.  
  
"Hmm...?" Bill cocked his head.  
  
"DON'T YOU EVER STEAL ZIGGY'S LINES AGAIN!!"  
  
Bill laughed lightly as he patched up the last hole in the wall.  
  
"Sorry, Ziggy. It was the first thing that came to mind."  
  
Ziggy growled. "What about au revoir? Sayonara? Adios?"  
  
"'Ciao' came to mind first," Bill responded with a shrug.  
  
"Whatever," Ziggy huffed. "So..."  
  
As Bill stood up and turned around, he found himself staring face-to-face with Ziggy, who was pretending to be a news reporter, complete with a microphone.  
  
"Bill McKenzie, you've just won the battle of your life! What are you going to do now?"  
  
She held the "microphone" up for him.  
  
"Um... I'm going to... Disney World?"*6*  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Never mind." Bill grinned slightly. "But seriously, I suppose I'll just keep shifting as I had before Team Rocket and Antiwarp interfered. After all, there's many people out there who still need my help, and as Zero said before, my destiny is yet to be carried out."  
  
"Do you have any idea what your destiny is?"  
  
Bill sighed. "Not a clue. I had always thought that this was my destiny."  
  
"You always thought that shifting was your destiny?" Ziggy blinked.  
  
He shook his head. "No. I meant that this, my normal life as a Pokémon researcher... I always thought that THAT was my destiny. That I was always meant for just that purpose. After all, even my birth to another Pokémon researcher*7* hinted this. But then again, I suppose maybe the idea of 'like father, like son' isn't exactly true. If so, then I thank the good god for that."  
  
"Um... Okay..." Ziggy raised an eyebrow. "So, what are you going to do right now?"  
  
"Right now?"  
  
"Yeah. Just, you know, to have something to talk about... or to get a fair warning."  
  
"You don't have to worry." Bill sighed and picked up his toolbox. "I'm putting this away and going back to sleep."  
  
"Sleep? That's a bit boring," Ziggy remarked.  
  
"Well, the battle DID take away a good bit of my energy," Bill pointed out. He stood up and began walking out of the room. "Besides, Loki woke me up."  
  
"Speaking about Loki, will we ever see him again?"  
  
"No, no. Don't worry. I've made sure of that."  
  
Bill winked and walked away.  
  
"He's cute, but he confuses me sometimes," Ziggy said to herself before disappearing.  
  
***  
  
End episode 10*8*  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: Apollo and Artemis. Apollo was the Greek (and Roman) god of the sun, medicine... and something else, I can't quite remember at this point. Artemis was the Greek's goddess of the moon, hunting, and I do believe, childbirth. Not only this, but the two were brother and sister. So, does this mean that the white Sneasel is a female? Well, actually, no. Artemis (of Warp Series), like the Artemis of Sailormoon, is male, in honor, once again, of Light Sneasel.  
  
*2*: I'm not too creative in this episode, but hey, it's slightly better than my last choice. =/ I originally wanted him to go into Mew with that same power to transform (Trust me, Transform is an important attack in this episode. What other power possessed by a wild Pokémon can beat a bloody level 70 Mewtwo!? ...And yes, Mewtwo is level 70. This comes from the RBY games.), but then I thought it would just come out as one of those corny newbie-author things I hate so much, where a character turns into and/or catches a legendary Pokémon, and it's a big thing. "...and then ash caught a artikuno, and then misty revealed her eternal love for him. 'i luv u,' she said. they got married, and the 2 lived happily ever after. the end!" Oh god, how Fanfiction.net needs less of that... -_-  
  
*3*: Mewtwo's attacks, as in attacks it has when you catch it at level 70 in the wild in RBGY, are as follows - Psychic, Swift, Recover, and Barrier. I'm trying to avoid exceeding the four-attack limit as set in the games. =/  
  
*4*: For those of you who ended up with bad images (specifically of Bill in a Sailor Scout uniform) after Artemis called him Sailormoon, I apologize deeply for it and assure you that you're not the only one... O_o;;; *pictures Bill in a Tuxedo Mask outfit* Aaah... That's MUCH better... ^.^  
  
*5*: This part, about making Loki go insane, was inspired by Light Sneasel's comment that he seemed one program short of a full download (if you know what I mean), especially in the last episode.  
  
*6*: This is a corny joke involving a segment where a reporter asks a football player who just helped his team to win the Super Bowl what he's going to do next, and the player replies enthusiastically, "I'm going to Disney World!" ^_^;  
  
*7*: In the GSC series, it's revealed that Bill's father is a Pokémaniac, just like his son is. I've adapted it for this version, saying that Bill's father is a Pokémon RESEARCHER as well... though a rather bad one, if the older McKenzie spends most of his time in the Goldenrod Game Corner... -_-  
  
*8*: And thus ends the final episode in the first season of Warp Series (and the shortest, for that matter, at only ten pages, two of which are the foreword and the footnote. O_o;). After this, stay tuned because I'm putting up three "extras" -- interviews, bloopers, and a trailer/teaser for the next season. After these three are done (and after a short break -- this may or may not put me at spring break, when I'll be dragged to Missouri on a family trip because, alas, I'm only a mere teenager), the new season will begin as a separate story. (See both Card Captor Ashura arcs to understand what I mean.)  
  
I'd also like to apologize for two things: the lateness of this week's episode. First, the lateness. (By the way, I'm aware that Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire is out by now, though it doesn't say so in the foreword. I typed that part last week and didn't bother to change it.) This was caused by a mixed of writers' block, school projects, and a new layout on Forgotten Lights. Secondly, the length. Though I tried to stretch this out and put more action in it (this is why the battle between Bill and Loki seems a bit... well... dry), it didn't work, as I only had a few plans for this episode. I could have made both parts to the "Equal and Opposite" series one whole episode, but I thought it would be fun to do a two-parter. ^_^; 


	11. Extra 01: Question Answer Session

Warp Series Extra NO. 01--  
Question-Answer Section  
  
At the end of a Warp Series story arc, I write this little gag. Essentially, it's a spot where the star (and a certain holographic costar) of the story and the writer get together to discuss what's happened thus far and to answer any questions you might have. But the latter's a maybe. ^_^; (Then again, so is the former... o_o;) Enjoy!  
  
And by the way, footnotes aren't in effect here, and all stuff in between [ and ] are actions. (This only applies to the Question-Answer Section.)  
  
Bill: Well, Mai. This is the first decent fanfiction you've actually finished in two years. I'm impressed.  
  
Mai: Finished? It's not over yet, Sonezaki-sama!  
  
Bill: Please be consistant, Mai. Otherwise, you'll confuse the readers. [pauses to realize what Mai had said] What? What do you mean by "it's not over"!? This insanity continues!?  
  
Mai: Yep. I've gotten a lot of support encouraging me to go on.  
  
Bill: I want those supporters' names and addresses.  
  
Mai: Oh, Bill, this story isn't THAT bad...  
  
Bill: You've turned me into various Pokémon, lied about my past, given me a psychopathic enemy, and you say it's NOT that bad!?  
  
[Ziggy appears.]  
  
Ziggy: Ziggy Alpha, present, accounted for, and [coughs] fashionably late!  
  
Mai: But I really didn't lie about your past. You really don't have one to begin with.  
  
Ziggy: [blinks] Wha?  
  
Bill: [sighs] You have a point there. Blast those writers!  
  
Ziggy: [looks from Mai to Bill, then back to Mai] Huh?  
  
Mai: Of course I have a point! And yes, those writers deserve to be fired.  
  
Bill: I didn't say that. I'm just saying--  
  
Ziggy: [interrupts] What's going on!? Oh, I hate coming in right in the middle of the conversation!  
  
Bill and Mai: [in unison] Never mind.  
  
Ziggy: No! Really! What's going on!?  
  
Mai: [ignoring her] At this point of the story, we answer questions you might have about the story.   
  
Ziggy: Hey! You didn't answer my question! Oh, I hate being ignored! [pouts]  
  
Mai: [ignoring Ziggy and continuing from above] You know, those little bits and pieces I never explained quite well.  
  
Bill: [rolls his eyes] And god knows how many plot holes you left. Fill them all with water, and we'll find ourselves in a piece of Minnesota, Land of a Thousand Lakes.  
  
Mai: Hey...! [clears her throat] ^_^; Anywho! Let's see the first question! [takes a letter out of a mailbag, opens it, and reads aloud] What is Zero referring to!?  
  
Bill and Ziggy: This should be interesting!  
  
Mai: ....  
  
Ziggy: You don't have anything, do you?  
  
Mai: Hey, I know all! I'm the author! ...It's just that I don't wanna tell... right now...  
  
Bill: [shakes his head] She's lying.  
  
Mai: Hey...  
  
Bill: [reaches over to take out another question] Mai, are you Zero? [narrows his eyes at Mai] If she were, I'd be violated and dead by now. Either that or still alive but in very, VERY deep trouble.  
  
Ziggy: [starts laughing]  
  
Mai: [puts her arms around Bill] Hey! What do you mean by that, anyways? You know I'd take care of you!  
  
Bill: [rolls his eyes again] Right, Mai.  
  
Mai: As for the question, yes and no.  
  
Ziggy and Bill: Yes and no!?  
  
[Bill prys Mai off of him and stares at her blankly.]  
  
Mai: What?  
  
Ziggy: [rolls her eyes and pulls out another question] What's the story behind Ziggy and Bill? Are the two lovebirds or what?  
  
[Long, uncomfortable period of silence.]  
  
Bill: You've got to be kidding me.  
  
Ziggy: Er... Well... [blushes] I like him...  
  
Bill: ...What...? [stares blankly at Ziggy]  
  
Mai: I'll field this one. Yes and no. I wanted to make it discreet (so the reader can tell without me resorting to someone saying "I love you."-- not that that wouldn't be interesting either) that Ziggy is in fact in love with Bill because, simply, he created her, and therefore her love is somewhat natural. However, It's not really a daughter's love to her father because no matter when she had been programmed, she still sees herself as the same age as Bill, making the whole father-daughter thing awkward. However, on the other hand, Bill had reserved his love for Zoe a LONG time ago, regardless of whether or not Zoe thinks of him as "just another boy" who happens to come to her parents' shop once in awhile, and he doesn't get the fact that Ziggy is in love with him. It's because of Zoe and the fact that she's an artificial lifeform that Ziggy doesn't actually tell him this.  
  
[Another long, uncomfortable pause.]  
  
Bill: Okay! Next question! [reaches into the bag] You've been inconsistant on explaining this. How was Ziggy reactivated?  
  
Mai: Yeah, I know I said Ziggy reactivated herself in the first episode, but that's only what she thinks. In reality, Zero did it. She used her mysterious powers to hack into Bill's computer and bring Ziggy back.  
  
Ziggy: Mysterious powers? You make it sound so Disney!  
  
Mai: Would you prefer the perverted version?  
  
Ziggy: There IS a perverted version!?  
  
Mai: I have a lot of time on my hands and a quirky mind.  
  
Bill: NOW do you see why I'm glad she's not really Zero?  
  
Mai: [glares at him and pulls out another question] Here's a good one for you, Bill. Whatever happened to the Time Capsule Beta?  
  
Bill: I finished it and sent data about it to the Symposium. A month later it was approved and put into use at Pokémon Centers everywhere. By the way, who would be curious about a thing like that?  
  
Ziggy and Mai: You?  
  
Bill: [narrows his eyes] Touché.  
  
Ziggy: [pulls out another question] Why is everything called "shift," but the series and the groups called "warp"?  
  
Mai: Good question! Originally, everything had been called "warp" (warpers, warping, warped, et cetera). But before the first episode had ever been published, I thought "shift" sounded better and changed things to "shift," "shifting," "shifter," etc. However, for the same reason, because it sounded better, Warp, Antiwarp, and Warp Series all stayed with their original names. [pulls out another question] Bill, will you marry me?  
  
Bill: Get serious, Mai!  
  
Mai: It's signed "Zoe."  
  
Bill: [grabs the paper out of Mai's hands and puts it in his pocket] Continue!  
  
Ziggy: [rolls her eyes and pulls out a question] Mai, you've mentioned several times that you have "plans" for Warp Series. What can you say about them?  
  
Mai: [smirks] Not too much. It'll ruin the surprise. All I can say is that there's going to be at least three seasons in total, but four is a possibility; it all depends on whether I want to keep the ideas of the third season together in a big mass or if I should just cut it in half and make four seasons. I'm also planning a set of lost episodes, the episodes I never wrote for fear that I might get bored with this whole gig, and a movie. Movie if you're lucky.  
  
Bill: Might you have something along the lines of, say, a few details? Preferably a warning?  
  
Mai: Well, it's still going to be rated PG13.  
  
Bill: That's not what I meant!  
  
Mai: [gives him an innocent (or pseudo-innocent) smile] Then what did you mean?  
  
Bill: [highly annoyed] You know very well what I-- [stops short, sighs, and calms down] You know what? Never mind. [pulls out a question] Had Warp Series ever been a parody?  
  
Mai: No. As I stated in episode one, Warp Series was always meant to stand up on its own, only borrowing ideas from Quantum Leap every so often.   
  
Ziggy and Bill: [interrupting in unison] In other words, all the time.  
  
Mai: [ignoring that remark] After awhile, this became more and more evident. The original idea, before the story was typed out, might have been; I can't remember. I think it was, but then I thought the series was too serious for a parody and just had it inspired by Quantum Leap.  
  
Bill: Serious? I don't remember any of your SERIOUS stories...  
  
Mai: Stones and Inner Monologue were serious.  
  
Ziggy: Yeah, but we can't count those. Your earlier stories were pieces of--  
  
Mai: [DEATH GLARE]  
  
Ziggy: I'll shut up now.  
  
Mai: [pulls out another question] What made you write Warp Series? [calmly tosses the paper aside] This is a bit of a long story, so feel free to grab some jasmine tea and some Pocky. Anywho, I had stumbled upon Quantum Leap (that is, the last time I can remember, as I was three years old when I saw the tail end of one episode -- I had remembered this halfway through writing the third episode] while reading one of the stories of one of my favorite authors, Jaxxon, author of "Evolution". After reading the fanfiction ("Of Leaps and Pokémon"), I wanted to learn more about the television series, so I summoned Google to perform a search on it. Hours later and five or more websites viewed, I had the idea for Warp Series in my mind, so, to entertain myself, I started writing it. A few days later, the first episode was complete.  
  
Bill and Ziggy: [look at each other then at Mai] So what made you KEEP writing?  
  
Mai: Good reviews and an inflated ego. =p  
  
Bill and Ziggy: Uh... huh... -_-  
  
Ziggy: [pulls out a question] Why did you choose, of all characters in the Pokémon world, Bill to be the star?  
  
Mai: [throws her arms around Bill's neck... again] Isn't it obvious? ^_^ I like the guy! And if someone asks, I quoth the Apple Jacks commercial -- I just do!  
  
Bill: Remind me to get a restraining order against her after this is over... -_-  
  
Mai: But seriously, I wanted to do a sci-fi/fantasy fanfiction involving Bill for quite some time, but couldn't come up with a successful plot. That is, before this idea came around. I thought a Quantum Leap-based fanfiction would be perfect for him, so I made him be the star. Essentially, you can say that I chose the story for the star, not the star for the story. ^_^;  
  
Ziggy: I take it I should ask the next one. How can Ziggy (Hey! That's me!) understand Pokémon speech?  
  
Bill: She's a computer. She's programmed to be fluent in any language, including Pokémon languages.  
  
Mai: Fluent in any language... Just like you, m'darling?  
  
Bill: Be professional, Mai. Get off.  
  
Mai: [sniffs sadly and lets go]  
  
Ziggy: Aww... You made her cry! Now she'll be all sadistic on you!  
  
[pause]  
  
Bill: Do you mean to say she's not now?  
  
Ziggy: [shrugs]  
  
Bill: New question! [pulls out -- eh, you get the point] I think you've screwed up character development! Loki acts intelligent, but when he was a kid, he was a Daisuke (see Digimon 02) wannabe!  
  
Mai: This isn't really a question, but I've noticed this, and I never got around to explaining this. Loki IS intelligent. At the time of the scene in "Present, Past, and Future Sight" where I reveal that he was eleven and in Westwood Academy, he was in his freshman year of high school. (By the way, when I said Bill was at a much more advanced grade than Loki, I meant he was in his senior year. The way I see it, Bill had to finish school quickly to get where he was when we meet him in various versions.) So, in other words, Loki was a child prodigy, just like Bill and Tess; it's just that he wasn't as intelligent as they were, and whatever skill he possessed, he didn't really put to use until he joined Team Rocket.  
  
Bill: You are aware, aren't you, that you're telling more of the story in author's notes, rather than in the story itself, right?  
  
Mai: Highly aware, and I don't really care.  
  
Ziggy: Hey! That rhymed!  
  
Bill and Mai: ....  
  
Mai: Anywho...! Will you ever write an episode about (insert episode idea here)? [throws the question aside] Sorry. I don't take requests. Last time I did, I never finished the story, so I concider it bad luck, just like writing a complete fanfiction using only Japanese names.  
  
Bill: You concider that bad luck?  
  
Mai: Have you ever seen my plot bunnies? -_-  
  
Ziggy: Okay! Ziggy's turn! How can Ziggy know where Bill is at all times? Hmm... Um... I don't... actually... know... o.o;  
  
Mai: I've got it. Well, to put it simply, Zero gives her a clue, such as a specific location where he might be. As soon as Ziggy enters that area, she finds Bill by listening for him.  
  
[Short pause.]  
  
Mai: And now on to the next part of the show--  
  
Bill: [interrupts] Wait... Aren't you going to answer the rest of the questions?  
  
Mai: [takes out a lighter and lights the bag on fire] Does that answer your question?  
  
Bill: Not really, but I'll say yes anyways because I fear the presence of you and fire within five feet of each other.  
  
Mai: [partially ignoring him] And now to the part of the show where I interview the star and costar! [turns to Bill] Um... Do you want to, um... you know... get together tonight?  
  
Bill: MAI!!  
  
Mai: I was just kidding! [clears her throat and mutters] Damn. That worked on my LAST boyfriend... [outloud] What do you think of the story so far? How did you feel about shifting?  
  
Bill: Actually, on the latter, I'm a bit uncomfortable about it, but it has its humorous points. I only fear what you might do next, however. On the former question, the story is... well... odd. But then again, YOU wrote it, at night no less, so it's understandable.  
  
Mai: Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?  
  
Bill: ...Nothing.  
  
Mai: [narrows her eyes at Bill] You're making me feel so unloved. [turns to Ziggy] Alright, Ziggy. How about you? Do you like how the story is going so far?  
  
Ziggy: I like the story. After all, it gave me the job, didn't it?  
  
Mai: Well... what about the plot?  
  
Ziggy: Oh! There's nothing wrong with the plot! I've got no complaints!  
  
Mai: You're afraid that I'm going to fire you, aren't you? -_-  
  
[Short pause.]  
  
Ziggy: Yes.  
  
Mai: [sighs, then pauses and smirks] How would you like it if I threw in a bit of datashipping?  
  
Bill and Ziggy: Datashipping?  
  
Mai: Oh, you know! Make an episode completely about the love between Bill and Ziggy!  
  
Bill: What love?  
  
Ziggy: You don't love me? Aww... I feel... so unspecial.  
  
Bill: ....  
  
Mai: Well, what about an Oracle and Ziggy romance?  
  
Ziggy: HEY!! What the hell!? There's no way I'm falling for that prima donna!  
  
Bill: Heh heh... No comment.  
  
Mai: What? Bill, no comment? Why?  
  
Bill: [chuckles, refusing to answer]  
  
Ziggy: Hey! I know why! [to Bill] You jackass!  
  
Bill: [smirks] Why, Ziggy! I thank you for such a SWEET compliment!  
  
Ziggy: [growls]  
  
Mai: Um... Bill? Do you know of the saying "there hath no Hell like a woman scorned"?  
  
Bill: Yes, I'm familiar with it. Why?  
  
Mai: No reason. Except it looks like Ziggy's thinking of one hundred and one ways to kill a certain someone.  
  
Bill: ....  
  
Mai: Um... Is there anything in particular you'd like to say to the readers?  
  
[Bill and Ziggy nod.]  
  
Mai: Alright. Ziggy, go first.  
  
Ziggy: Um... er... [lying] Mai is a great author! Read her story again! [off the lying tone] The things I do for a job...  
  
Mai: Uh... Thanks, Ziggy... I think... Um, Bill?  
  
Bill: I won't lie. This girl is insane and deserves to be put up in a mental institution. You haven't seen her hyper yet. As for the fanfiction, it's torment, and each time you read and review it, you encourage Mai to keep torturing the lot of us. Please, for the love of all things good and holy, do NOT--  
  
Mai: [interrupting] Uh, that's about all the time we have today!  
  
Ziggy: But... We have twenty more minutes!  
  
Mai: Shh!  
  
Ziggy: Yes, ma'am.  
  
Mai: So tune in another week for a continuation of Warp Series!  
  
Bill: [sighs in the background] .... -_-  
  
Yeah, that was pointless. I know. This would have been longer, but I thought, "What's the point in tormenting the good lot of you?" ^_^; 


	12. Extra 02: Bloopers

Foreword: Well, I was in a hyper mood while trying to get through episode six, so I decided to stop for a short while and start producing bloopers. They go in order by episode, so they're fairly easy to follow. Hopefully, you've read Warp Series itself and know which scenes I'm talking about. =/  
  
Also, footnote rules are in effect here, and all things in parenthesis in the dialogue parts are actions.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
***  
Warp Series Extra NO. 02--  
Season 01 Bloopers  
  
[Episode 01]  
  
Scene: Not long after the opening of the episode, Bill walks back to the lighthouse, reading a book. He's supposed to enter the lighthouse and get to the kitchen to put away the groceries, but...  
  
Bill: (pushes open the door)  
  
Union workers: (sitting on crates inside, obviously on a coffee break)*1*  
  
Writer/Director/Producer, AKA Mai: Cut! Dammit, we're doing a scene here!  
  
Union workers: Yeah? Well, we're takin' our coffee break here! Come back in an hour!  
  
Bill: Fine by me! (tries to run off)  
  
Mai: Oh, no, you don't! (grabs Bill by the arm as he passes by her)  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: Bill stumbles into the Time Capsule Beta, strikes his head against the back, and conks out.  
  
Bill: (trips and falls into the TCB)  
  
TCB: (tips backwards, hits the wall, and falls on its side)  
  
Bill: (while still laying inside the TCB) ...Oops.  
  
Mai: Cut! Isn't that thing anchored!?  
  
Union workers: Oh right. Guess we forgot to do that before our break. o.o;  
  
Mai: This is what you get for being cheap... -_-  
  
~~~  
  
[Episode 02]  
  
Scene: In the barn, Bill realizes he's a bird and flies down to the ground. At least, he's SUPPOSED to...  
  
Fearow: (pushes off of the loft, circles around... then flies toward the voice actor booth where Bill is standing and starts pecking at the window, obviously scaring the living hell out of Bill in the process)  
  
Bill: KYAAAA! KEEP IT AWAY!! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY AND BEAUTIFUL, KEEP IT AWAY!!!  
  
Ziggy: I just KNEW he was a chicken...  
  
Bill: No, THAT'S a bloody chicken!*2* I HATE chickens!!  
  
Ziggy: So THAT'S why he freaked out when we brought in the stuff from Kentucky Fried Chicken...  
  
Mai: I wonder if he and Link*3* go to the same therapy group...?  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: The above scene, take two.  
  
Fearow: (circling around the barn)  
  
(Silence.)  
  
Fearow: (runs into a wall) FEAROW! (continues circling, only to run into a second wall) FEAROW! (runs into a support beam, cracks it, and causes the whole set to collapse)  
  
(Silence.)  
  
Mai: CUT! Get the carpenters in here! (groans) Oh, this will cost us another grand...  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: At the end of the second episode, Bill makes fun of Ziggy's fears by programming a virtual Togepi to appear and chase Ziggy around. At least, that's what's supposed to happen...  
  
Bill: You know, you're not the only sadist here.  
  
Ziggy: What are you talking about?  
  
Bill: (leans forward to type a few commands on the computer)  
  
(The can-can part of "Men in Tights" from Robin Hood: Men in Tights*4* appears in the background of Ziggy's program window.)  
  
Ziggy: (fake scream) Oh no! It's tens of pansies in green tights doing the can-can! I'm doomed!  
  
Mai: (slaps her forehead) Dammit, Bill! I thought you said you knew what you were doing!  
  
Bill: Well, I thought I did. I was trying to get to the part where Marian steps out of the bathtub and shows her chastity belt.  
  
Mai: Geez, you're so perverted!  
  
Bill: It's genetic. My father happens to be the same way.  
  
Men in tights: (finishing up the cancan part of the song) La la la la la! We're men! We're men in tights...  
  
Ziggy: ...Help...  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: At the VERY end of the episode, Lokov sits in his dark office after Bonnie and Clyde leave, looking at McKenzie's disc.  
  
Loki: (in a raspy voice) I'll get you next time, Gadget! Next time...!  
  
Mai: CUT! For the love of all things good! We're not doing Inspector Gadget!!  
  
Bill: (dressed up in an Inspector Gadget getup) We're not!!?  
  
~~~  
  
[Episode 03]  
  
Scene: Bill (inside Chansey) tries to teach Joy how to use Pokémon bandages by using one of Joy's Pokémon dolls.  
  
Chansey: (wraps "Fluffy's" tail while guiding Joy)  
  
(A few moments pass like this.)  
  
Joy: (lifts her hands to show that Chansey had somehow wrapped her hands in the bandage too.  
  
Chansey: CHAN! ^_^;  
  
Mai: Cut! How in the name of all things good did you manage to do THAT!?  
  
~~~  
  
[Episode 04]  
  
Scene: At the very end, Team Rocket manages to corner Bill in his own lighthouse.  
  
(While the lights are out.)  
  
Bill: Hey! Who's there? What's going on!?  
  
(Lights turn on.)  
  
Team Rocket: (surround Bill)  
  
Butch and Cassidy: (grab his arms and hold them behind his back)  
  
Bill: What do you-- (flinches) Butch, my arm doesn't go that way!  
  
(CRACK!)  
  
Butch: Whoops.  
  
Mai: Cut! Butch, you're fired! Someone get the extras! Someone find a medic! And... (gags) Woah... I didn't know a person's arm could BEND like that!  
  
Bill: (painfully) It's not supposed to... i_i  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: The above scene, only AFTER Bill's arm was "magically" healed. ^_^;  
  
(Lights turn on.)  
  
Union workers: (are having their coffee breaks all around the circle of Rockets)  
  
Team Rocket and Bill: ... -_-;  
  
Mai: CUT!  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: The scene above, take three.  
  
(The lights turn on.)  
  
The Masaki Fan Club: (surround Bill and smile with wide, expectant smiles)  
  
Bill: Oh, crap! I'm in trouble...!!  
  
Mai: CUT! How did the lot of you get in here!!?  
  
The MFC: (in unison, with a proud tone) We bribed every guard on our way in.  
  
Mai: (sighs) Go figure.  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: The above scene (a bit further in action, though), take four.  
  
Bill: What do you want from me?  
  
Bonnie: (steps in the circle and takes Bill by the chin) We just want a li'l info, sugar. Be a gentleman and tell a lady what she wants, m'kay?  
  
Bill: I won't tell you anything. (wrenches himself away from Bonnie) I refuse to help Team Rocket.  
  
Bonnie: Oh really? Then maybe this'll help, sugar! (dives forward, throws her arms around Bill, and starts to ravenously - yes, RAVENOUSLY - kiss him)  
  
Mai: CUT! Bonnie! There's no kissing scene in here!  
  
Bonnie: (stops, but keeps her arms around Bill) Dammit! All I want is a real gentleman! You don't know how many men I went through, just trying to find one!  
  
Mai: (slaps her forehead) I didn't want to know that.  
  
~~~  
  
[Episode 05]  
  
Scene: In Westwood Academy, a bunch of students are gathered around a bulletin board to see the grades they earned on the last exam.  
  
Girl #1: (gasps loudly) AAAAAAHH!!! QUIT LOOKING UP MY SKIRT!!!  
  
Boy #1: Heh heh...  
  
Mai: CUT! Is everyone on this set perverted!!?  
  
Bill, Ziggy, and Loki: (from somewhere offstage) Eh. Pretty much.  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: On the bridge, Tess leans over the rail and falls off.  
  
Tess: (leans forward and flips over the rail)  
  
(THUD!)  
  
Tess: OW!! I thought you said someone would be down here to catch me!!  
  
Mai: Cut! What the--!? (goes over to read a sign next to Tess)  
  
Sign: On break. Love, Union workers.  
  
Mai: Dammit!  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: The above scene, take two.  
  
Tess: (muttering) I don't know about this... (leans over, nearly flips, but grabs young Bill's sleeve at the last minute and takes him with her)  
  
(THUD!)  
  
Tess: Hey! He caught me!  
  
Young Bill: (sprawled out on the floor) Oww... o.o  
  
Mai: (sighs) Cut...  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: When Bill shifts and meets Zero, she sings a little song to him to guide him to her lake.  
  
Suicune: (running toward the lake)  
  
Zero: (singing) I was half not whole/In step with none/Re-- (voice breaks and hits the wrong note)  
  
Mai: (sighs) Cut!  
  
Zero: (from another part of the set) Sorry!  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: Zero makes her way across the lake to Bill.  
  
Zero: (walking through the water)  
  
Suicune: (waits on the opposite shore)  
  
Zero: (trips, falls, and submerges herself in water)  
  
Mai: CUT!  
  
Zero: (pokes her head up from the water) You know, it's really hard to move in here!  
  
Mai: (sighs) Where do I find these people...?  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: Zero (finally) makes it over to Bill and greets him.  
  
Zero: Contessa Loveland. You remember her--  
  
Suicune: (gets up and walks away)  
  
Mai: CUT! (waving her arms around like an anime-style lunatic) HEY, STUPID DOG! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO STAY PUT!!  
  
Suicune: (snorts and continues out the door)  
  
Mai: Hey! Isn't anyone supposed to go after it!?  
  
Bill, Ziggy, and Loki: (in unison as they hold their left hands up in peace signs) Don't look at us!  
  
Union workers: (all in unison) We're on our break.  
  
Mai: (pulls her own hair) GAAAAAHHHH!!! (drops until she squats on the floor, drapes her left arm over her legs, buries her face in her knees, and draws a circle on the floor with her right index finger) Asprin please...  
  
~~~  
  
[Episode 07]  
  
Scene: In the very beginning, Bill is fixing the door so that it can be operated by Ziggy. Ziggy tests the door and slams it on Bill's foot.  
  
Bill: Alright, Ziggy! Try it now!  
  
(Door slams.)  
  
Bill: OW!!  
  
Ziggy: Get away from the door, genius!  
  
Bill: (hops away from the door a little, then slips and slides down the steps)  
  
All: O.o;  
  
Bill: I'm okay!  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: After Ziggy leaves Loki (who is in Bill's body) alone in the cellar, Loki races up the cellar stairs, needing a mirror.  
  
Loki: (voice-over) Oh no! Don't tell me I'm in this dateless loser's body!  
  
Mai: Cut! Hey! That's not how the line goes!  
  
Ziggy: (walks in and stands beside Bill)  
  
Loki: (in the voice actor's booth) Like I care! I'm seizing control of this show, and no one can stop me! BWAHAHAHA!!! (pauses) Fear me.*5*  
  
Mai: .... o.o;  
  
Ziggy: He blew off his therapy session with the studio psychiatrist again, didn't he?  
  
Bill: Um... Yes.  
  
~~~  
  
[Episode 08]  
  
Scene: Oracle explains (to Bill, in Vaporeon) how she could see Creampu-- er, Ziggy.  
  
Oracle: I can see all shifters and watchers, so it isn't that hard to see something as big as Creampuff over there.  
  
Ziggy: THAT'S IT!! (tackles Oracle and beats the living crap out of her)  
  
Everyone else: .... O.O;  
  
Bill: Uh... Mai? Shouldn't you be yelling "cut" right about now?  
  
Mai: In a minute. There's a bet going around on who would win a fight like this, and I've got fifty bucks on Ziggy.  
  
Bill: .... -_-  
  
~~~  
  
[Episode 10]  
  
Scene: In the very beginning, Loki (inside Mewtwo) is about to blast Bill with a Psychic attack.  
  
Mewtwo: (charges up, then quickly fires into a wall) HA HA! I shall not work for anyone! Doom to the lot of you! (proceeds to fly through the set wall and out an open door.  
  
(Long pause.)  
  
Mai: Uh... Cut?  
  
~~~  
  
[Extra 01]  
  
Scene: Before every question, one of the three participating in this part (Mai, Ziggy, or Bill) pulled out a question to read.  
  
(Ziggy, Mai, and Bill reach in the mail bag to pull out letters. Each person looks at their respective letter, then at each other.)  
  
Ziggy: Mail bomb! (throws her letter forward and dives behind her chair)  
  
Mai: Anthrax! (does the same thing)  
  
Bill: Jury duty!*6* (does the same thing)  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: It's Ziggy's turn to pull out a question.  
  
Ziggy: (pulls out a question from the mail bag, opens it, and reads it) Hey! It's a letter from the US Customs Bureau!*7* Sorry, Bill, but they want to deport you back to England.  
  
Mai: NOOOOOO!! (clings to Bill and sobs on his shoulder)  
  
Ziggy: Uh... It was just a joke.  
  
Bill: Really!? (dejectedly) Damn...  
  
~~~  
  
Scene: Bill asks a question about Zero to Mai...  
  
Bill: Mai, are you Zero? (narrows his eyes at Mai) If she is, I'd be violated and dead by now. Either that or still alive but in very, VERY deep trouble.  
  
Mai: (in a dazed tone) Woo... Ziggy has my purple slippers...  
  
Ziggy: I do not!  
  
Bill: Um... Ziggy? I think she's high.*8*  
  
Ziggy: Really? How can you tell?  
  
Mai: (leans against Bill, obviously out of it) Wow... You're a pretty Skitty! Woah... That rhymes... Groovy...  
  
Bill: See what I mean?  
  
Ziggy: No, not really. Wasn't she like that before?  
  
Mai: Heh heh...  
  
Bill: (ignores both girls) What I'd like to know is how she got that way...  
  
(In another part of the studio, a few minutes before)  
  
Loki: Bwa ha ha ha ha! (empties a small bottle of a suspicious, psychadelic, white powder into Mai's Dr. Pepper) ...Doom.  
  
(In the present, where the trio are.)  
  
Ziggy: Hmm... I don't know, Bill.  
  
Mai: (giggles, falls out of her chair, and bursts out laughing)  
  
Bill and Ziggy: (look at Mai, then at each other) o.o;  
  
***  
  
And this, my friends, is the end of the bloopers section. Episodes six and nine are absent, however, for two very good reasons. Six ("In the Doghouse") was not done because I can't make light on that which is already funny, and let's face it, episode six was downright hilarious. (I'd hate to brag, but somehow, I've made myself laugh when I read through it again to find something to make into a blooper. ^_^;) Nine was never done because... Well, I couldn't come up with anything. o.o;  
  
---  
Footnotes:  
  
*1*: Just for the reccord, I have nothing against union workers. ^_^;  
  
*2*: That's supposed to be a pun. Of COURSE we all know Fearow's not a chicken! It'd be a flippin' deformed one, if it were.  
  
*3*: Legend of Zelda reference. Yes, the chickens are EVIL!!! ...And fun to use for target practice... XD  
  
*4*: Eee hee hee hee... Mel Brooks is a bloody genius... XD  
  
*5*: Joke involving Not Quite Heroes, a webcomic.  
  
*6*: Though I must say I have nothing against the American judicial system (Well, nothing in general. o.o;), that's sadly not the only jury duty joke in my "Quirky Jokes of DOOM" arsenal... ^_^;  
  
*7*: I honestly don't know if that's a real name of a US government bureau. o.o;  
  
*8*: Remember, kids! Drugs are bad! Don't do drugs! Stay in school! *imitating Warren from Greg the Bunny, while singing* I'm a little teapot...! 


	13. Extra 03: Trailer for Season 02

Foreword: This is supposed to be like a television commercial (as the one thing Warp Series IS parodying - in a way - is a television series in general), so get your imaginations working and try to picture this like one. And by the way, the text in [ and ] happens to be text appearing on a dark screen. I thought it would be better not to write "Text on a dark background:" constantly. -_-  
  
***  
  
Warp Series Extra NO. 03--  
Trailer for Season 02  
  
(Fade in.)  
  
Zero: ...There's something coming.  
  
Bill: What?  
  
[Last season, lives were shifted from one direction to another...]  
  
Zero: Now is the time to make the decision. If you choose to follow your destiny, you will put your own life on the line and possibly never return to being a normal human ever again. If you choose to refuse your destiny, you will return to your former life before you gained your powers, but the world will be allowed to plunge into darkness.  
  
(She looks at Bill.)  
  
Zero: Which do you choose?  
  
[This season, there will be new twists and surprises thrown into the mix.]  
  
Crocus: Who's there!?  
  
???: I'm a wealthy business man willing to make a deal...  
  
[New evils will rise. New challenges will present themselves.]  
  
Ziggy: By the way, Bill...  
  
[Coming April of 2003. A whole new season. A whole new way to look at shifting...]  
  
Ziggy: Up for a shift?  
  
(Bill turns to face Ziggy.)  
  
Bill: I thought you'd never ask.  
  
[Warp Series - Season Two: The Antiwarp Saga] 


End file.
